Family organizer communications network system

ABSTRACT

The following describes a system and methods that provide integrated web-based graphic user interface to manage communications for a variety of WEB-accessible mobile devices, computers, and other consumer electronic devices. The user interface provided in conjunction with a server architecture simplifies all of a family daily communications and information. The system logic is based on utilizing networked, online, or web-based processing devices, such as servers, as the central processing and database engine for content management and communications. As the system is device and source agnostic, the system is designed to work with any web-accessible device. As a result, the user devices may provide a communications portal to collect information from and present content to the family. The system also facilitates organization and communication between family members by providing a centralized depository of all family data including calendars, shopping lists, and messages. In addition, an automated barcode, shopping, and advertising feature is provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/014,422, titled “Communications System”filed on Dec. 17, 2007 in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/051,339, titled “Dynamic Communications,Data, and Marketing System” filed on May 7, 2008 in the U.S. Patent andTrademark Office, both of which are herein incorporated by reference intheir entirety for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following description relates generally to an integrated web-basedcommunications service, and in particular to a family organizer networkand communications system.

BACKGROUND

A recent poll reveals the average computer user has four different emailaddresses—which is just one indication that users have too many sourcesof incoming communications to competently maintain. In addition,conventional systems place the burden of electronic communicationssquarely on the shoulders of the user. Users also are presented withmany different types of communications devices. Many users are simplyoverwhelmed by the numbers and choices of functions of these devices andsoftware they use such that many functions go unused. And to makematters worse, communications and conversation topics often jump betweena variety of mediums including voice mails, text messages, faxes, andconversations. Therefore, an improved organizational system is needed tosimplify, aid, and organize this information.

SUMMARY

In one general aspect, a method of providing a group graphical userinterface generated by a service provider system for display by a userclient device includes storing contact information associated with agroup including two or more members, such as a group; storing calendarinformation associated with the group members; storing messageinformation associated with the group members; generating a dynamicwebpage providing content automatically customized for the group bydividing the interface into a number of distinct thematically organizedareas based on the contact information, the calendar information, andthe message information, each area providing content and inputs based onthe distinct theme; receiving a user input in response to a group memberinteraction with the interface; and dynamically adjusting the contentprovided by the webpage in response to the user input.

Dividing the interface into a number of distinct thematically organizedareas may include dividing content into strips, each strip displayingthe content and inputs associated with the theme. Dividing content intostrips may include providing a WHO strip to present user contacts forall group members and their contacts. Providing a WHO strip may includeproviding contact information for people and groups. Dividing contentinto strips also may include providing a WHAT strip to present groupmember message content. Providing a WHAT strip may include providingindicators of received messages. Dividing content into strips also mayinclude providing a WHEN strip to present a group calendar content.Providing a WHEN strip includes providing group calendar and eventinformation. Dividing content into strips also may include providing aWHERE strip to present location content. Providing a WHERE strip mayinclude providing location information for contacts and events.

Receiving the user input may include receiving an input generated by auser input device in one of the strips, and dynamically adjusting thecontent provided by the webpage in response to the user input mayinclude focusing content provided by each strip in response to thereceived user input.

Receiving a user input may include receiving an indication of contentfrom one strip has be dragged to another strip, and dynamicallyadjusting the content provided by the webpage in response to the userinput may include providing a system provider function.

The method also may include receiving data generated by a barcode readercorresponding to a scanned item in response to the input; automaticallyadding the received data to a shopping list associated with the group;and providing the shopping list for display on the dynamic generatedwebpage including a representation of the scanned item.

The method also may include storing advertisements in a data base,determining an advertisement that is relevant to the item in theshopping list, displaying the advertisement on the dynamic generatedwebpage. Determining an advertisement is relevant may include filteringthe advertisement based on the calendar information.

The method also may include storing user profile information for thegroup members, and determining an advertisement is relevant may includefiltering the advertisement based on family member user profileinformation.

The method also may include receiving data generated by a barcode readercorresponding to a scanned item in response to the input; automaticallyadding the received data to a shopping list associated with the group;and providing the shopping list for presentation by the WHAT strip onthe dynamic generated webpage including a representation of the scanneditem.

The method also may include receiving a user input indicating theadvertisement has been selected, and storing the advertisement inassociation with the item on the shopping list.

The method also may include automatically contacting an onlinestorefront; presenting the advertisement; and purchasing the item for aprice, wherein the advertisement is one of a coupon, a discount, anoffer, or an incentive affecting the price or quantity of the itempurchased.

The method also may include automatically contacting an onlinestorefront and purchasing the item for delivery to a family member.

The method also may include transmitting the shopping list to a mobileprocessing device or mobile phone.

Generating a web page may include providing a one touch food deliveryarea to present depictions of previous food orders of group memberswherein selection of the depiction causes an automated online foodordering and delivery process.

Other features will be apparent from the detailed description, drawings,and claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows one exemplary block diagram of a communications system.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary process for a user profile questionnaire.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram of a contact aggregator system.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary contact fill-in form.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary process for message threading.

FIG. 6 is an example of a message thread.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary screen map of a user interface including examplesof dynamic WHO, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN strips.

FIG. 8 is an example of a lozenge for use in a strip of the userinterface.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary illustration of the WHO strip.

FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 are exemplary illustrations of the WHAT strip.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary illustration of a message pop-up window.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary illustration of the WHAT strip.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary illustration of the WHERE strip.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary illustration of the user interface with an extralarge people lozenge and a large calendar lozenge.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary illustration of the WHEN strip.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary illustration of the user interface including anevent popup window.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary illustration of the WHO strip with the calendarlozenge focused on a contact.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary illustration of the WHO strip with the calendarlozenge filtered for the family category.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary illustration of the WHO strip with the calendarlozenge in the Month view.

FIG. 21 is an exemplary illustration of the WHO strip with the calendarlozenge in the Expanded Week view.

FIG. 22 is an exemplary illustration of the WHO strip with the calendarlozenge in the Expanded Day view.

FIGS. 23, 24, and 25 illustrate an exemplary sequence of selecting anddragging to add a contact to an existing group.

FIGS. 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 illustrate an exemplary sequence ofselecting items from multiple lozenges to drag to create an event.

FIGS. 31, 32, 33, and 34 illustrate an exemplary sequence of create anevent by dragging a location to the calendar lozenge.

FIG. 35 shows an exemplary focusing process for items displayed in thelozenges of the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN strips.

FIG. 36 shows an exemplary focused search process.

FIG. 37 show a schematic representation of information associated with aGlad.

FIG. 38 shows an exemplary glad placement process.

FIG. 39 shows an exemplary process of application of glad filters.

FIG. 40 shows an exemplary process for responding to user interactionwith a glad.

FIG. 41 shows an exemplary a shopping map route.

FIG. 42 shows an exemplary system partner user interface screen for Gladcreation.

FIG. 43 shows an exemplary system partner user interface to monitor Gladcampaigns.

FIGS. 44, 45, 46, and 47 illustrate the dragging and dropping of a gladto a strip of the user interface.

FIG. 48 shows an exemplary family organizer system.

FIG. 49 illustrates one example of a family user interface screen forthe family organizer.

FIG. 50 illustrates a second display for the customized familyorganizer.

FIG. 51 shows an exemplary directory listings search interface.

FIG. 52 shows an exemplary food delivery screen interface.

FIG. 53 illustrates one exemplary process for shopping with the familyorganizer.

Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, like referencenumerals refer to the like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following describes a system and methods that provide integratedweb-based graphic user interface to manage communications for a varietyof WEB-accessible mobile devices, computers, and other consumerelectronic devices. The user interface provided in conjunction with aserver architecture simplifies all of a user's daily communications andinformation. The system logic is based on utilizing networked, online,or web-based processing devices, such as servers, as the centralprocessing and database engine for content management andcommunications. As the system is device and source agnostic, the systemis designed to work with any web-accessible device. As a result, theuser devices may provide a communications portal to collect informationfrom and present content to the user. The system also facilitatesorganization and communication between family members by providing acentralized depository of all family data including calendars, shoppinglists, and messages. The family organizer user interfaces, website,system, and various processes are described in further detail below.

System Architecture

FIG. 1 shows one block diagram of an exemplary communications system100. The communications system 100 includes one or more user devices101, a service provider system 110, other Internet Service Providers andwebsites 120, system partners 125, and various communication paths 130.As the communications system 100 is device and source agnostic, thecommunications system 100 is designed to work with any web-accessibleuser device, as explained in further detail below.

The user device 101 may be any type of electronic device that presentscontent received from the service provider system to the user. Forexample, the user device 101 may be a consumer electronics device, amobile phone, a smart phone, a personal data assistant, a digitaltablet/pad computer, a hand held/mobile computer, a personal computer, anotebook computer, a work station, a vehicle computer, a game system, aset-top-box, or any other device that can implement a user interfaceand/or browser to communicate with and present content from the serviceprovider system 110.

The user device 101 may include a processing device, one or more storagedevices, and one or more communications interfaces. A user device 101also may include additional elements, such as, for example, one or moredisplays or screens, one or more speakers, one or more user inputdevices, and a microphone. A user device 101 also may include one ormore associated peripheral devices, such as, for example, a display, amemory, a printer, an input device, an output device, and speakers. Theuser device also may be a specialized user device 150 which may be standalone or installed in an appliance 155, for example, as described belowwith respect to the family organizer.

The processing device may be implemented using any general-purpose orspecial purpose computer, such as, for example, a processor, a digitalsignal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable array, aprogrammable logic unit, a microprocessor or any other device capable ofresponding to and executing instructions in a defined manner. Theprocessing device may run one or more software applications thatcommunicate with the service provider system 110 and present contentreceived from the server provider system 110 to the user. The processingdevice also may access, store, manipulate, process, and create data inresponse to the applications. The software applications may include acomputer program, a piece of code, an instruction, or some combinationthereof, for independently or collectively instructing the processingdevice to operate as desired. Examples of software applications include:a browser, a mini browser, or other programs that interact with a frontend interface application (FEIA) provided by the service provider system110 to provide content, a login/signup, a user interface, and emailamong other features. Other examples of applications, include a mobilefront end interface applications (e.g., for a cell or a smart phone)that allow the user device to communicate with the system serviceprovider 110.

The applications, content, and data may be embodied permanently ortemporarily in any type of machine, component, physical or virtualequipment, storage medium or device, or propagated signal wave capableof providing instructions or data to or being interpreted by theprocessing device. In particular, the applications or data may be storedby a storage medium or a memory including volatile and non-volatilememories that store digital data (e.g., a read only memory (ROM), arandom access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a floppy disk, a hard disk,a compact disk, a tape, a DROM, a flip-flop, a register, a buffer, anSRAM, DRAM, PROM, EPROM, OPTROM, EEPROM, NOVRAM, or RAMBUS), such thatif the memory is read or accessed by the processing device, thespecified steps, processes, and/or instructions are performed and/ordata is accessed, processed, or stored. The memory may include an I/Ointerface, such that data and applications may be loaded and stored inthe memory allowing the applications, programming, and data to beupdated, deleted, changed, or augmented. The memory may be removable,such as, for example, a card, a stick, or a disk that is inserted in orremoved from the unit.

The communications interface may exchange data and content with theservice provider system 110 using various communications paths 130. Theinterface allows the processing device to send and receive informationusing the communications paths 130. The communications interface may beimplemented as part of the processing device or separately to allow theprocessing device to communicate using the communications paths 130. Theinterface may include two or more types of interfaces, includinginterfaces for different types of hardware and/or software to interactwith different types of communications media and protocols and totranslate information/data into a format that may be used by theprocessing device. Similarly, the interface may translateinformation/data received from the processing device to a format thatmay be transmitted to the service provider system 110 via acommunications path 130.

The communications paths 130 may be configured to send and receivesignals (e.g., electrical, electromagnetic, or optical) that convey orcarry data streams representing various types of analog and/or digitaldata including content for presentation to a user. For example, thecommunications paths 130 may be implemented using various communicationsmedia and one or more networks comprising one or more network devices(e.g., network interface cards, servers, routers, switches, hubs,bridges, repeaters, blades, processors, and storage devices). The one ormore networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN), a global area network (GAN), a plain old telephoneservice (POTS) network, a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, anintegrated services digital network (ISDN), a synchronous opticalnetwork (SONNET), Passive and Active Optical Networks (PON or AON), or acombination of two or more of these networks. In addition, thecommunications paths 130 may include one or more wireless links (e.g.,microwave, radio, and satellite) that transmit and receiveelectromagnetic signals, such as, for example, radio frequency,infrared, and microwave signals, to convey information/data signal. Inone example, a communications path 130 may include the Internet or WorldWide Web.

The service provider system 110 facilitates communication by,organization of, and presentation of content to users. The serviceprovider system 110 also stores and manages user associated informationin a centralized location. In particular, the service provider system110 implements a user interface to aggregate, consolidate, organize, andsimplify a user's daily communications, such as email and instantmessaging into a central point for one-stop organization, data, andcontent management.

The service provider system 110 includes one or more communicationsdevices, processors, memories/storage devices, communicationsinterfaces, network devices, and communications paths to store, process,manipulate, organize, consolidate, maintain, and present content anddata for a user. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the service providersystem 110 may include a one or more security devices 141 (e.g.,firewalls), web servers 142, an application server 144, an SQL server145 and a mirror SQL server 148, and associated memory 150 and backupmemory devices 152. It is understood, however, that the example given inFIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only, and that differentconfigurations, combinations of devices, and numbers of devices may beprovided for any particular service provider system 110. For example,the system service provider may include multiple banks of servers asneed to supply adequate bandwidth for the number of users supported bythe system. In addition, the system 110 may be geographicallydistributed.

In one example, the web server 143 may be implemented using a DellPowerEdge 1900 2-Socket, Quad-Core Tower Server with a Red HatEnterprise Linux 5 operating system using an apache HTTP serverprogramming language to provide JavaServer Pages (JSP). The web server143 may run a FEIA to aid in login, signup, and creation of a useraccount, and receive information from the first time wizard. Theapplication server 144 may be implemented using a Dell PowerEdge 19002-Socket, Quad-Core Tower Server with a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5operating system using programming languages YoLinux Java, Eclipse C/C++IDE. The application server 144 The application server may run systemapplications, such as, for example, the contact importer, harvester, andmaintainer, calendar maintainer and syncer, mail fetcher/sender,threader, glad logic, glad placement applications, route mapper, itemfinder, client communicator, and user interface. The SQL Server 145 maybe implemented using a Dell PowerEdge 1900 2-Socket, Quad-Core TowerServer with a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 operating system using anOracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition for Linux (or equivalent) tomaintain various databases, such as, for example, a contact database(DB). The mirror SQL 148 server mirrors the SQL Server 145. to maintaina user DB and a glad, advertisement, or customer incentive database, astore DB, a item DB, a contact DB, a message DB, among other describedherein. The user database may include a user profile, user events,shopping lists, to-do lists, user groups and contact DB, and userlocations DB. The mirror SQL server mirrors the SQL Server. The termdatabase DB includes not only the data but may include the programmingof the database application for maintaining the data.

In order to interact with the service provider system 110, a user needsto establish an account. The user must activate the account from a userdevice 101 running an application allowing the user device 101 tocommunicate with the service provider system 110, such as a browser. Abrowser may include any application that communicates with a web serverprimarily using hypertext transfer protocols HTTP (e.g., HTTP/1.1) tofetch content or provide a portal to service provided by the serviceprovider system 110. HTTP allows the browser to submit information toservers in addition to fetching content from them. Content may belocated by the browser using a uniform resource locator (URL) as anaddress. Many browsers also support a variety of other URL types andtheir corresponding protocols, such as Gopher (a hierarchicalhyperlinking protocol), file transfer protocol (FTP), real-timestreaming protocol (RTSP), and an SSL encrypted version of HTTP (HTTPS).Content may be provided in a hyper-text markup language (HTML) that isidentified using a MIME content type. Most browsers natively support avariety of formats in addition to HTML, such as the JPEG, PNG, and GIFimage formats, and can be extended to support more through the use ofplugins and/or scripts. The combination of HTTP content type and URLprotocol specification allows images, animations, video, sound, andstreaming media to be embedded in the content.

The browser may include coding that interacts with the FEIA. The initialcode that is run in the browser may be downloaded from the serviceprovider system 110 (e.g., with purchase of an account) or retrievedfrom a storage medium (e.g., a CD promotional gift). The browser runningon the client device 101 connects with the FEIA application run by theservice provider system 10 web server 143 to initiate login, accountactivation, and provide a first-time questionnaire. During the initialaccount setup, the user may create a password and/or user identification(ID). In addition, the service provider system 110 may configuresettings and data on the user device 101 (e.g., set cookies). Theservice provider system 110 also provides the user with a user profilequestionnaire.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of how the service provider system 110conducts the initial user profile questionnaire. As shown in FIG. 2,when the user login is first initiated 201, the service provider system110 asks the user several questions to help tailor the content andservices that are delivered to the user. After the initial questionnaireis completed, an edit function provided by the user interface allows theuser to update their profile information at any time. After the usercompletes their initial registration, the user then responds to thequestionnaire provided by the user interface, which may be updated orchanged at any time. The questionnaire may be provided in any number offormats that allow a user to provide information to the service providersystem 110. For example, the questionnaire may be a webpage thatincludes content, such as a series, list, or groups of questions for theuser to answer. Various windows, fields, boxes, lists, or drop downmenus may be provided to solicit and receive information from a user.Some examples of questions asked or information requested may includepersonal information 205, personal reminders 210, email contacts 220,and business information 225.

Examples of the personal information 205 may include: a user name, a zipcode, a name of spouse, and the names of children. The user also mayprovide their address/contact data or the system can automaticallyprovide address data.

The service provider system 110 also collects information about personalreminders 210 so the service provider system 110 may remind the user ofimportant dates, such as, anniversaries; birthdays (e.g., spouse, kids,relatives, and friends); an unlimited number of special dates and namesof those events; and reminders (e.g., such as vacation, appointments,activities, or retirement). The personal reminders may be used as asource of greeting events, as explained in further detail below.

The user also is prompted to input email addresses 220 (e.g., family,friends, business contact, and relatives, among other importantcontacts). The user is asked to input their usernames/aliases/IDs/account numbers and passwords for any online accounts,such as Yahoo!, Google, MySpace, kut, Hi5, Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn, XING and Twitter. The user also is asked for any other importantcontact information, such as phone numbers (e.g., work, cell, and home).

Business Information 225 also may be collected by the service providersystem 110, such as business zip, business email account(s), businesscell phone (if different), business log-in (user name and password) forcontacts and calendar.

Once this information is collected, the information is stored in theuser profile database 270.

As shown in FIG. 3, the service provider system 110 works to collect,harvest, organize, and maintain contact information through the use of acontact aggregator system 300. The contact aggregator system includes acontent aggregator 301. The content aggregator includes a suite ofsoftware/applications including a contact importer 310, a contactharvester 320, and contact maintainer 325 run by one or more servers 330of the service provider system 110 that runs applications in conjunctionwith maintaining the client contact DB and a one or more storage devices340. In one example, the server 330 may be implemented using theapplications server 144 and associated hard disk 150 and shadow storage152. The server 330 communicates with the rest of the service providersystem 110 through communications path 350 (e.g., a communications path130 secure link to the web server 143 and the SQL server 145).

The contact importer 310 imports contacts from various user clientdevices 101 and any other accounts, software, and systems associatedwith the user that store user contact information. The contact importer310 also uses various user accounts information, such as the user names,the IDs, the aliases, and the passwords gathered during the initialaccount set up to masquerade as the user and download the user's contactinformation associated with or stored by any portal and/or socialnetworking websites that user might belong to.

Using the passwords provided by the user during account setup, thecontact maintainer 310 implements an automated process to login as theuser on all supported address book/contact storage accounts, such asYahoo!, Google mail, and Outlook. Any contacts that are identified fromthese accounts are imported into a temporary database. All importedcontacts are compared against each other, and, if possible, the data ismerged, the duplicates are deleted, and a final list of contacts andtheir associated information is created and placed in the user contactDB, which stores all of the user contacts.

For each contact associated with a user's account stored in contact DB,the contact DB may include a number of data-fields to store informationregarding the contact. For example, the data fields may include acontact name, one or more email addresses, a fax number, one or moremobile phone numbers, a voice phone number, a business phone number, ahome number, a home address, a business address, and various IM IDs. Thecontact importer 310 also captures any user avatar images whenavailable. During the automated import process, the contact importer 310merges the data collected from various sources and eliminates anyduplicate information. For each contact the importer finds in one theuser's existing contact formats, the contact importer attempts topopulate as many the fields provided by the contact DB as possible withthe information available from the importation process. Any contactsthat are missing information may be provided to the contact harvester320 in an attempt to retrieve the missing information. The contactimporter then writes this information stored in a temporary database tothe Contact DB.

The contact harvester 320 is an application that is used to retrieve,supplement, and/or update contact information that may be incomplete,out of date, or in error. The service provider system 110 examines thecontact DB after initial setup and periodically thereafter. As part ofthe examination, the service provider system 110 provides the contactharvester 320 with contacts that have information fields that aremissing information, are incomplete, or may be suspected of beingincorrect or out of date. The contact harvester 320 spawns a web pagefor such contacts to solicit missing or information in need of updating.The web page may be hosted by the web server 143. The web page may bepopulated with all or a portion of the existing information for thecontact stored in the contact DB. In addition, information associatedwith one or more fields that are blank, incomplete, or missing may berequested or solicited. The web page may include window, boxes, fields,menus that may be used by a contact to provide the missing informationin conjunction with a browser. The contact harvester 320 generates anemail that is sent to the contact at one or more of the email addressesstored for the contact in the contact DB. The email contains a link tothis spawned webpage which may then be filled out by the user. To assurethe contact being solicited of the authenticity of the web page and theemail with the link to the webpage, a personal message from the user maybe included or other information known to the contact may be provided.For example, a photo or avatar of the user and/or a portion of theuser's personal information may be included with the message and/orwebsite.

The contact harvester 320 also may interface with a telephony based, orweb-telephony based device with voice prompts and voice recognitioncapability. As a result, the contact harvester 320 may get in touch witha contact at a provided phone number and use automated voice recognitiontechnology and/or automated menus to request the missing contactinformation directly from the contact. This is especially helpful fortracking down contact information for contacts without valid emailaddresses. The automated voice system translates answers from thecontact into digital data that is stored in the contact DB. The contactharvester 320 may then provide a spawned website and email to thecontact to verify the information received by the automated voicesystem. The contact harvester 320 provides a report to the user if thecontact harvester 320 is unable to contact a user and/or determinemissing information.

When the service provider system 110 spawns a custom website for acontact to fill out their contact information, all known contactinformation may be filled out in the spawned form. The contact is thenasked to fill in any missing info or update and change information thatmay be incorrect. Certain items or fields having missing or incompleteinformation that can be looked up with high accuracy may are filled inautomatically by contact harvester 320. For example, if the contactinformation contains an address with the word “Calgary” in the cityfield, the contact harvester safely fills in the State/Province fieldwith “Alberta” and the country field with “Canada.” If the contactincludes an address field of “503 Aniston Place, Apt 43,” a city fieldof “Salisbury,” and a State/Province field of “WI,” the contactharvester safely fills in the Zip Code/Postal Code field with 91234 andthe country field with “USA.” A sample spawned webpage which may be usedby a contact to fill in missing information is shown in FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the webpage 400 may include a personal greeting 401and a listing of the contact data stored in the contact DB for thecontact. Missing elements may include an entry field 410 for the contactto supply the missing information through use of a user input device.Check box 420 may be provided to toggle features on and off. Inaddition, there may be a solicitation for additional information 430which can spawn additional web pages to supply the requestedinformation. In addition, the webpage may include a verification 440 forthe existing information. No response or a yes indication does nottrigger any change; however a negative indication may spawn anadditional webpage to correct and/or supplement the contact informationdisplayed. Alternatively, the user may be able to change the informationdirectly in the webpage by using a user input device and selecting theuser information to change and change the information.

The contact maintainer 325 is an application that helps to maintain theintegrity of contact information stored in the contact DB. For example,the contact maintainer 324 keeps track of failed email deliveriesassociated with the user account. If the contact maintainer 325 suspectsthat a contact has changed their email address (thereby accounting forthe failed email deliveries), the contact maintainer 325 provides theinformation contact to the contact harvester 320. The contact harvester320 may then generate a spawned webpage and/or use the automated phonesystem to determine correct contact information and/or update thecontact information in the contact DB.

The contact maintainer 325 also scans or reviews user emails to detectkey words and/or phrases, such as “my new phone number is,” “we'removing,” and “my new address is.” If such key words, phrases, orcombinations of key words are detected, the contact maintainer 325parses the text to determine if the email is a change ofaddress/email/phone message or is otherwise updating/change informationassociated with contact. If the contact maintainer 325 determines with apredetermined level of confidence that the email does contain suchinformation, the contact maintainer prompts the user with a message, forexample, like this:

“Hi, we think that Cynthia Alvarez might be changing her phone numberfrom 310.234.1234 to 818.334.4456. Select here to make this change, orselect here to read the email.”

The user may then select to update the user information or make furtherinspection of the information to determine if the contact informationshould be updated. The message may be provided in any number of formatsincluding email, instant messages, or directly through a user interfaceof the user device 101.

As described above, the service provider system 110 also gatherspersonal reminder information for users, such as contact birthdays. Thecontact maintainer 324 uses the personal reminder information asgreeting events to automatically send greetings to contacts. Examples ofgreeting events include birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, amongothers. The contact maintainer 325 uses the greeting event as anopportunity to periodically contact all members of the contact list.When the contact maintainer 325 determines the occurrence of a greetingevent, the contact maintainer 325 sends a greeting to one or morecontacts, such as “Happy New Year!” The greeting may be an email orinstant message. The greeting may include a question for the contact,such as “Do you have new contact info?” If the user responds in theaffirmative, the contact harvester 320 may spawn a webpage for thecontact to review their stored contact information and update/changeinformation as necessary. As a result, the greeting provides anopportunity to the contact to update their contact information and forthe service provider system 110 to spread this information. Moreimportantly, the contact maintenance is done without any additionaleffort or input required by the user.

The contact aggregator is described in further detail in co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/141097, titled “Contact Aggregator” filedJun. 18, 2008, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entiretyfor all purposes.

As shown in FIG. 5, the service provider system 110 works to collect,harvest, organize, and maintain a user's calendar information throughthe use of a calendar aggregator system 500. The calendar aggregatorsystem 500 includes a calendar aggregator 501. The calendar aggregatorincludes a suite 501 of software/applications including a calendarimporter 510, a calendar harvester 520, and calendar maintainer 525 runby one or more servers 530 of the service provider system 110 that runsapplications in conjunction with maintaining the client calendar DB anda one or more storage devices 540. In one example, the server 530 may beimplemented using the applications server 144 and associated hard disk150 and shadow storage 152. The server 530 communicates with the rest ofthe service provider system 110 through communications path 550 (e.g., acommunications path 130 secure link to the web server 143 and the SQLserver 145).

The calendar importer 510 imports calendar data from various user clientdevices 101 and any other accounts, software, and systems associatedwith the user that store user calendar data and information. Thecalendar importer 510 also uses various user accounts information, suchas the user names, the IDs, the aliases, and the passwords gatheredduring the initial account set up to masquerade as the user and downloadthe user's calendar information associated with or stored by any portaland/or social networking websites that the user might belong to.

Using the passwords provided by the user during account setup, thecalendar importer 510 implements an automated process to login as theuser on all supported calendar storage accounts, such as Yahoo!, Googlecalendar, and Outlook. Any calendar items or data that are identifiedfrom these accounts are imported into a temporary database. All importedcalendar items are compared against each other, and, if possible, thedata is merged, the duplicates are deleted, and a final set of calendardata calendar is created and placed in the user calendar DB, whichstores all of the user calendar information. The calendar importer 510and its processes may be run in conjunction with the contact importer510.

The calendar DB may include a number of data-fields to store informationregarding the user's calendar. For example, the data fields may includea years, months, weeks, days, a timeline of hours and minutes during aday, and events, reminders, meetings, tasks, to-do items, shoppingitems, and there associated data and information. During the automatedimport process, the calendar importer 510 merges the data collected fromvarious sources and eliminates any duplicate information. For eachcalendar the importer finds in one the user's existing calendar formats,the calendar importer 510 attempts to populate as many the fieldsprovided by the contact DB as possible with the information availablefrom the importation process. The calendar importer 510 then writes thisinformation stored in a temporary database to the calendar DB.

The calendar harvester 520 is an application that is used to retrieve,supplement, and/or update calendar information by periodically logginginto the users various calendar accounts to retrieve information andupdate the user's calendar information. The calendar harvester 520 is anapplication that is used to retrieve, supplement, and/or update calendarinformation by periodically checking these other calendar accountdatabases either by accessing their data APIs, or by logging into theseaccounts utilizing user log on information (user name and password)provided by the user during setup. The calendar harvester has theability to masquerade as the user, log onto their other calendaraccounts, and harvest the data.

Depending on the type of access (API or masquerade) the frequency of thechecking varies. With an API checking can happen very often, whereasmasquerading may happen only a few times a day.

The calendar harvester reads the information from the user's otheraccounts, interprets that data thus converting it to a compatible formatwith the system, and then installs that data into the user's calendar.

The calendar manager 525 receives user input provided through the userinterface to manage the user's calendar. The calendar manager providescalendar information and data to the user interface and receives useinput to setup, schedule, and maintain user events. The calendar manageralso has access to all system user calendars which allow to instantlyproviding information about a user's other contacts maintained by thesystem service provider.

In addition, to maintaining a user's contacts and calendar information,the system also manages a user's various dialogs with other users. Forexample, emails sent to a user account are stored by the serviceprovider system 10 in an archive database that is associated with a useraccount. The archive database stores the communications in theiroriginal form (e.g., STMP). The archive database also store threads ofprevious user communications. The threads are chronically arrangedcommunications between two or more individuals that have a commonsubject. The threads contain the actual body copy of the communicationwith other non-essential information removed, such as, for example,headers, signatures, boiler plate or legal disclaimers, text history,wallpaper, animations, avatars, demarcations, line or extraneouscharacters.

FIG. 6 shows one example 600 the service provider system 10 processingof emails. As emails are received by the system service provider 110(605), the emails are stored in the archive database (610). The addressof the email sender is compared to the recipient's contact data to matchthe identification or name of the contact sending the email withinformation in the contact DB (620). For example, the server comparesthe text string in the FROM or SENDER fields with all of the contactsstored in the contact DB that are associated with a user. The systemservice provider determines if the user is in the contact DB 630. Theservice provider system 10 scans the archive DB of all current andprevious communications sent or received by the user. The serviceprovider system 110 identifies those communications between the user andthe identified contact. By examining the text history in the email(i.e., the content displayed at the bottom of emails preceded by the “>”characters) and by examining the subject line, the service providersystem 110 determines whether or not the email is a response to aprevious communication stored in the archive DB 640.

If the email is a response, the service provider system determines aprobability of which communication it is a response to 645. The serviceprovider system 10 examines the subject, text history, and key words inthe list of current conversation threads database, to determine whichconversational thread the communication belongs to 650. Once a thread isdetermined, the system service provider 110 strips all data from theemail except the actual body copy that was last typed by the contactsending the email 655. When stripping the email, the system removes allheader information, all text history, signature boxes, wallpaper,avatars, animations, legal boilerplate, demarcations, lines, andextraneous characters to leave only the body copy or new communicationscharacters sent by the contact. The body copy is then placed as a lastentry to the communications thread. The updated thread is stored and anindication is provided by the user interface, as explained in furtherdetail below 660.

If the communications is not determined to a response a new thread iscreated 665. When creating the new thread, the system includes only theactual body copy of the communication stripping all other data, asexplained above. The new communication thread is stored in and anindication is provided by the user interface 660.

User Interface

As the number of technological advances in daily communications grows,many users find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer amount ofinformation and content available to them. In addition, many of the userdevices providing this information and content have a substantial numberof functions associated with them to view and manipulate this content.As the amount of content and number of functions have grown, a typicaluser does not use many of the functions provided because it is difficultto access or utilize the information or the functions provided are onlyuseful to a relatively small number of users. Therefore, a new userinterface is provided to facilitate user access and manipulation ofcontent and services provided by the service provider system 110.

The user interface provides a primary point of interaction between theuser and service provider system 110. The web server 143 providescontent and services to the user through a browser operating on the userdevice 101. The user device 101 establishes a connection to a web server143 of the service provider system 110 using a communications path 130.After the connection is established, the primary interface is presentedas screen rendered by a browser on a display of the user device 101. Thescreen may be a dynamic webpage provided by the web server 143 that issupplemented by additional programs, applications, and plugins operatingon the user device.

The user interface provides electronic content generated by theapplications, servers, and databases of the system service provider 110.The once the use device establishes a link with the service providersystem 110, the user device and system exchange data. Data istransmitted from the system 110 to the browser in a markup language usedby a client application or browser resident on the user device 101 andits operating system to render the page and present the user interfacescreen. Data also is transmitted from the user device 101 to the system110 to provide indications of user interaction with the user interface.The data sent to the user device may be in any markup language that maybe interpreted by the client application or browser running on the userdevices that is presenting the system webpage. In one application, Flashtechnologies may be used and AJAX technologies may be used to providethe webpage of the user interface using the hypertext markup language(HTML), the JavaScript programming language, Cascading Style Sheets(CSS) and/or the eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

In one example, data may be transferred between the service and the userdevice using an HTML and/or XML format to render the page. Within thedata of the markup language for the page, an instant messaging protocolapplication may be provided. The markup language is interpreted by thebrowser to run/assemble the instant messaging protocol application. Onceoperating in the browser, the instant messaging application may be usedto establish an instant message link between the client application orbrowser and the system server. This may be done by providing the systemserver with connection information (e.g., an IP address and number ofthe port assigned to the client user device). In addition, the clientdevice also is provided with the connection information (e.g., an IPaddress and number of a port on the system server). Because the clientdevice and server both have the IP address and port number of the other,the two devices may be considered “linked.” As a result, certain userinteractions with the browser while manipulating the user interface aresent directly to, and received directly from the server in real time.The direct “link” may be used to provide certain information directly toand from the server and client. For example, any information forcalendar events may be provided directly without, for example, the needfor any page refresh between the browser and the server in order todisplay the associated information. In addition, all online system usershave this link established. As a result, when one person updates theircalendar to add an event, the calendar of another system user may appearto be updated almost instantly or in real time. Similarly other itemsinputted by on the interface, such as tick boxes may be updated in thismanner.

The user interface may include one or more areas, portions, boxes,windows, scroll/slider bars, tools, menus, buttons, and tabs; however,the numbers and arrangement of these items is selected so as to notoverwhelm a user with functionality. The functionality of the userinterface may be accessed or activated through use of one or more userinputs of the user device 101. For example, items and content on thescreen may be selected and manipulated using one or more screen positionindicators or visual effects (e.g., a pointer, a cursor, a highlighting,a transparency, a color, an animation, or an effect) controlled by oneor more user input devices (e.g., a key, a keyboard/pad, a touchscreen/pad, a mouse, a joystick, a track ball, and a stylus) as iscommon in graphical user interfaces (e.g., a pointer controlled by amouse to click and double-click to activate, select, and drag itemswithin a window, browser, or desktop environment).

In most cases, items in lists can be: selected, clicked, or tapped todesignate, activate, or expand the item; double-selected, clicked, ortapped to edit an item; dragged within a list to reprioritize the item;dragged from a window, a list, a tab, or a button and dropped to anotherto convert an item to another type of item or to activate a function;and a special selection process, such as holding down a specific key(e.g., the Ctrl key or shift key) to allow multiple items on a list tobe selected and/or dragged.

Characters and text may be entered in specific locations (e.g., a textbox or entry field) using a keyboard, a keypad, a number pad, or avirtual keyboard/keypad (e.g., provided through a touch screen).

As the user interacts with items, functions, and content presented bythe user interface, the items, functions, and content may be focusedbased on their interaction. Further examples of the user interface andits functionality are given in greater detail below.

As pointed out above, many users find the number, type, andfunctionality of the many different user interfaces to be overwhelmingor at a minimum burdensome. Accordingly, the user interface describedherein presents content in manageable portions for a user. Each portionincludes items, data, functions, and content concerning an area ofinterest to the user. In particular, the data and content of mostinterest to a user may be distilled into four basic areas of interestwhich govern their daily communications: who, what, when, and where. Inaddition, the user interface automatically focuses information providedwithin these areas to the information that is most likely desired by theuser at any given moment. To aid the user and avoid confusion, allcontacts, messages, and appointments may be color coded or otherwisevisually distinguished to indicate which category they belong to (e.g.,Red=Personal, Green=Family, Purple=Friends, and Blue=Business). As aresult, items belonging to these groups may be shown in, bordered,highlighted or otherwise visually distinguished with these colors.Finally, because the user interface data, items, content, andfunctionality are provided by the service provider system 110, they maybe accessed by the user using any web accessible device with a browser.As a result, the user has access to their information from virtuallyanywhere and because the information is presented consistently, the userdoes not need to re-familiarize themselves with different operations andfunctionality even when accessing the information from different userdevices. Nor does the user have to worry about a lost or stolen deviceresulting in lost information or having it compromised.

FIG. 7 shows a screen map 700 or layout of a user interface window 701.The screen map 700 of the user interface is implemented by the serviceprovider system 110 in conjunction with a browser and other applicationsand plugins of the user device 101. Screen resolutions may be dimensionsthat are proportional to screen width and resolution used depending ontype of display associated with the client device 110. The display alsomay be fully scaleable. As such, the screen dimensions and resolutionshown in the figures is merely for illustration purposes only.

The user interface window 701 is divided into three primary areas: aninformation bar 705, a graphic bar 707, and a user organizer 709. Asshown in FIG. 7, the first portion includes an information bar 705 thatmay be used to present various information pertaining to a particularuser, such as, for example, a user avatar 710, a user name 712, anyhigh-level alerts 714 (e.g., tips or message “3 new events”), and asystem logo 717. In addition, a custom web search input field 719 may beprovided to allow a user into input information (e.g., key words)through use of an associated user input device. The input information issupplied to a search engine to perform a query and present a response ina separate browser window. Searches of the web may be performed usingGoogle, Yahoo, AltaVista, or any other web-based search engine. However,the service provider system 110 may automatically narrow or focus thesearch based on the user's personal profile stored in the user DB. Inaddition, the system service provider 110 may use its own proprietysearch engine to perform a search. Two buttons are provided, an Internetsearch button 721 and a system search button 722, to select where thesearch is to be performed. The search features are described in furtherdetail below.

A second area 707 includes a graphic bar that provides a space or window724 for a user photo gallery to display user photos (e.g., stored in theuser database). The graphic bar also may include a products and servicesbranding area 726 to display advertising (i.e., glads) and logos forbusiness clients 120 (e.g. a system sponsor). This area 707 also may becustomized or used to promote a business for a sponsored user interface.The area may include identification of the business, such as a name,symbol, or logo. Selecting the business logo causes the user interfaceto open an additional browser to present the user with a website orother online content associated with the business. This area 707 of theuser interface also may provide advertising content including coupons.The advertising display and glads are described in further detail below.

A third portion 709 of the user interface provides a user organizer thatorganizes a user's daily communications, contacts, appointments, contentand other information in several key contexts to facilitate the user'saccess to and manipulation of the information. As shown in FIG. 7, theuser organizer is divided into four general themes, contexts, or strips:a WHO strip 731, a WHAT strip 733, a WHERE strip 735, and a WHEN strip737. Each strip provides data, content, and functionality to a user inmanageable portions based on a general aspect, context, or theme. TheWHO strip 731 provides content and functionality regarding a user'scontacts including people and groups of people. The WHAT strip 733provides content and functionality regarding a user's daily activities,communications, shopping, and to-do items, and other events of a user'sdaily life. The WHERE strip 735 provides information about locations andpoints of interest to a user, such as addresses, points of interest,information related to points of interest, and maps associated withthose locations. The WHEN strip 737 provides access to scheduledactivities, events, appointments, and any other time sensitive dataassociated with the user. Each of the strips also dynamically focusescontent and information based on user interaction with the strips. Thestrips also are automated such that simple manipulation of item betweenand within the strips causes the system to provide certain functions andservice automatically. Each of the strips, their functionality, andfocusing are described in further detail below.

The information and functionality provided by each strip are accessedthrough manipulation of one or more lozenges provided in each of thestrips. FIG. 8 shows an example 800 of a lozenge. The lozenge 800 is aninteractive, dynamic window that provides content and functionality to auser. Each lozenge allows a user to quickly arrange and displayinformation and functionality within the theme or context of the strip.The lozenge may include one or more of the following: a title bar 801including an expand icon 810 and a contract 812 icon, a information/itemarea 819, navigation aids (e.g., a scroll or slider bar) 820 and asearch/add field 830. The area or window occupied by the lozenge 800within a strip expands and/or contracts based on a user request or viaautomatic processes. Generally the lozenges may be presented as: small,medium, large, and extra large. In addition, the size of one lozenge mayautomatically and reciprocally affect the size of the one or more otherlozenges within a strip based on user interaction with the strips.

A small lozenge generally occupies a minimal area of a strip, forexample, less than 15% of the area of a strip and provides minimalinformation and functionality. For example, a small lozenge may includea title bar and some additional information, such as a minimal alert orcounters. A medium lozenge provides a portion of the overall contentassociated with a lozenge focused generally, for example, on the mostused or most needed content or functionality associated with thelozenge, such as alerts and/or counters. In one example, a mediumlozenge occupies approximately up to half of a strip. A large lozengemay be considered full size providing multiple ways to view data whileproviding all the functionality associated with the lozenge. In oneexample, a large lozenge occupies a majority of the strip. Finally, anextra large lozenge provides additional space with an emphasis onediting data, adding/reordering items, and viewing of additionalinformation provided by the lozenge. In one example, the extra largelozenge occupies a space larger than a strip, for example, the space ofup to three large lozenges or additional strips. The individual lozengesare described below within the context of their strips.

At the bottom of a lozenge a data search/add field 820 (e.g., a textbox) may be provided in which a user enters characters using user inputdevice. As a user enters characters into the field, the system performsa character-by-character analysis to determined items featuring theletters the user is typing. The system displays in or next to the fieldany items that correspond with the characters. At any time the user mayselect one of the displayed items. If the user types in a characterstring that is not present in the database, and selects the items usinga user input device (e.g., pressing ENTER), then the item is added tothe database. The field may be used, for example, to add an item to thelist or perform a search within the context of the lozenge.

The WHO strip 731 includes two lozenges: people 740 and groups 742. TheWHAT strip 733 includes six lozenges: activities 744, to-do 748,shopping 750, buy (not shown), read 752, and send 753. The WHERE strip735 includes two lozenges: locations 760 and maps 762. The WHEN strip737 includes one lozenge: dynamic calendar 770. Expanding a lozengecauses a corresponding reduction in the size of one or more otherlozenges within a strip, as explained in further detail below.Similarly, expanding a strip to accommodate an extra large lozenge,causes a correspond reduction in the size of one or more other strips.Any strips or lozenges that are shrunk may be done so in order of theoldest to the most recently used.

FIG. 9 shows examples of the WHO strip 731 of the user interface whichis used to create, maintain, and access a user's contact information. InFIG. 9 the reciprocal relationship between a small, a medium, and alarge people and a small, a medium, and a large groups lozenge is shown.

The small people lozenge 901 includes a title bar “People.”

The medium people lozenge 905 includes a list 907 of a subset of a usercontacts. In one example, the medium lozenge includes a list of the mostpopular and/or the contacts most recently communicated with. The list ofcontacts may include a visual indicator and label, such as stars and theword popular (not shown). The list 907 may include up to ten contacts;however, other numbers of contacts may be provided. While connected tothe service provider system 110, the web server 143 in conjunction withthe applications server 144 monitors the user's interaction with theuser interface to populate the list with the most relevant contacts ofinterest to user. The medium people lozenge 905 also includes asearch/add data entry field 820. The search/add field 820 may be used tosearch for a contact within the user's contact database. As a userenters characters within the field, the system automatically provide alist of contacts (not shown) matching those letters typed by the user.The user may select any contact from the list at any time or continueadding characters. If a contact entered in the field is not in thedatabase, the system asks the user if they wish to add the contact tothe database.

The large people lozenge 910 includes a configurable list 912 of auser's contacts. A navigation aid 830 (e.g., a scroll bar or slider) maybe provided for use in conjunction with a user input device toconfigure, manipulate, and/or sort the contacts displayed by the list912. For example, the configurable contact list 912 may be sorted by:recently accessed contacts, a first name, a last name, those contactswith whom a user is currently communicating, those contacts with whom auser has planned events, appointments or activities on the calendar,those contacts for whom a user has extended an invitation, thosecontacts with whom a user owes a response to a message, a specificletter in a contact name, and those contacts in order of proximity to alocation selected on or inputted to the “Where” strip. The desired sortoption may be selected from a menu or corresponding input (e.g., abutton or check box). If there are more names in a list than may bedisplayed within the area provided by the people lozenge, a navigationaid (e.g., a scroll bar, a slider bar, direction arrow keys, grab andmove pointer, or a pointing device) may be used to navigate through orsee the remaining portion of the list. Items within the list also may berearranged by a user selecting a name with a user input device anddragging the name within the list. The large people lozenge 910 alsoincludes a search/add field 820.

The extra large people lozenge 915 includes a full list 920 of all usercontacts with a navigation aid 830 (e.g., scroll or slider bar) that maybe sorted by: a contact first name and a contact last name. In addition,inputs (not shown) may be provided to jump to a specific letter of acontact's name in the list. A number of fields of data for each contactare also displayed. For example, fields for a contact address 921, acontact phone number, and a contact email address may be provided foreach contact. Information in the displayed fields also may be edited.The extra large people lozenge 915 occupies roughly three times the sizeof a normal strip.

Four additional inputs (not shown) are provided to interact with thedisplayed lists of the extra large people lozenge 915: select, edit,add, and aggro. Using the “select” input or directly selecting a namefrom a list using a user input device (e.g., using a mouse to singleclick on any contact name) causes the name to be visually indicated(e.g., highlighted, bolded, outlined, etc.). In addition, selecting aname causes the other strips to focus on or present content associatedwith the selected contact, as explained in further detail below.Selecting the “edit” input or a name directly from a list using a userinput device (e.g., by double-clicking on the name) allows the user toupdate the contact information. Selecting edit provides a pop-up area(not shown) with information fields populated with a selected contact'sinformation that is stored in the contact DB. The user may edit any ofthe fields and save the edited contact information. Selecting the “add”input creates a pop-area including a number of blank data fields whichmay be populated with a new contact's information. Selecting the “aggro”input causes the contact aggregator to verify the contact informationstored for the selected contact in the contact DB.

A number of symbols and indicators (not shown) may be used inassociation with the names listed in the people lozenge to provideadditional information to a user. For example, a tiny email envelopenext to a contact name may be used to indicate, at a glance, that a newmessage has been received from the contact. A tiny calendar/clock iconnext to a contact name may be used to indicate a new calendar event hasbeen established for the contact. A tiny clock next to a contact namemay be used to indicate that the contact aggregator is in the process ofaggregating this contact's information. Colors (e.g., red, blue, purple,or green) may be used to display the contact name of the list toindicate the type of contact if the contact has been indicated to be oneof personal, work, friend, or family contact.

FIG. 9 also shows examples of a small, a medium, a large, and an extralarge “groups” lozenge of the WHO strip 731. The groups lozenge allowsthe user to define and select groups in order to organize theircommunications with multiple contacts. A color (e.g., red, blue, orgreen) may be associated with each group name to indicate the type ofgroup based on the types of contacts the group is composed of, such as,for example, personal, work, or family. A group name listed in blackindicates a group of contacts from multiple groups. If there are moregroup names than space in the tab a scroll bar or slider may be providedto navigate the list.

The small groups lozenge 930 includes a title bar “Groups.”

The medium lozenge 935 includes a list 937 of a subset of a user groupscontacts. In one example, the medium groups lozenge 935 includes a listof the most popular and/or the groups most recently communicated with.The list 937 may include the names of the top ten groups; however, othernumbers of groups may be provided. While connected to the serviceprovider system 110, the web server 143 in conjunction with theapplications server 144 monitors the user's interaction with the userinterface to populate the list with the most relevant group names ofinterest to user. The medium groups lozenge 935 also includes asearch/add field 820.

The large groups lozenge 940 includes a full list 945 with a navigationaid 830 (e.g., a scroll bar or slider) that may be sorted by: the mostrecently selected group, a group name, a groups with whom the user iscurrently communicating with, a group with items that are on thecalendar, a group that has been invited to an event, a group size (e.g.,number of members), a group's creation date, and an RSVP or a not RSVPgroup. Any person, group, or activity may be tagged by the user as anRSVP. This means that any activity that includes the RSVP person or RSVPgroup must have all contacts or groups of contacts tagged as RSVP agreeto attend the activity before the service provider system 110 identifiesthe activity as booked. If a person, a group, or an activity is not sotagged, then the activity may be booked regardless of how many inviteesagree to attend. The large groups lozenge 940 also includes a search/addfield 820.

The extra large groups lozenge 950 includes a full list of all groupsnames 955 associated with the user and a navigation aid 830. For eachgroup a list of contacts 957 in the group is provided. In addition, anumber of fields associated with each group may be presented, such as,for example, a first name, a last name, an email address, an address(e.g., house number and street name) 958, a city, a state/province, azip code/postal code, a country, a home land line phone number, a mobilephone number, a work land line phone number, a relationship to the user(e.g., friend, family, or business), and a RSVP flag (either yes or no).All fields may be selected and edited by the user. Five additionalinputs (not shown) are provided on extra large groups lozenge 950:select, edit, create a group, add a person, and aggro. Using the“select” input or directly selecting a group name from the list using auser input device (e.g., using a mouse to single click on any groupname) displays the names of all contacts within the group (e.g.,highlighted, bolded, outlined, etc.). In addition, selecting a groupname causes the other strips to focus on or present content associatedwith the selected group. Focusing is described in further detail below.Selecting the “edit” input or a group name directly from the list usinga user input device (e.g., by double-clicking on the name) allows theuser to edit the contacts listed in the group. Selecting the “create agroup” input allows a user to create or define a group. Selecting theinput “add a person” allows the user to add a new contact to an existinggroup. Selecting the “agro” input causes the contact aggregator toverify the contact information of the contacts listed in the group.

A user also may create a group using the add/search field 820. The usermay type in a new group name in the field 820 using a user input device.The new group name is then displayed in the list of groups 937 or 945.The user may then drag and drop one or more names of contacts from thepeople lozenge to the group name in the groups lozenge to automaticallyadd those people to their groups. Similarly, a user may automaticallyadd a new contact to any existing group by dragging a name of a contactfrom the people lozenge to the group name in the groups lozenge.

In addition, the size of the people and groups lozenges have areciprocal relationship with each other. For example, when the peoplelozenge is small, the groups lozenge is large. When either the people orgroups lozenges are medium the other lozenge also is medium. When thegroup lozenge is small, the people lozenge is large. When either thepeople or groups lozenges are extra large, the lozenge occupies theentire WHO strip 73 1.

The WHAT strip 733 provides content and functionality regarding a user'sdaily communications and activities. The WHAT strip 733 helps the usermanage and organize these communications and activities through use offive lozenges: activities, to-do, shopping, read, and send.

As shown in FIG. 10, the activities lozenge provides a list ofactivities that a user frequently engages in order to help a user planevents. The activities lozenge may be small or medium. The smallactivities lozenge 1001 just includes a title “Lozenge.” The mediumactivities lozenge 1005 includes a list of activities 1007, for example,a top-ten list of activities. The top-ten list is automaticallypopulated based on a combination of the most recently used useractivities combined with activities that have been most frequentlyrepeated. A search/add data 820 entry field also is provided. The dataentry field 820 may be used to search through a list of a user's prioractivities or add a new activity to the list. Adding a new activitycauses a pop-up window to be shown with fields that the user may chooseto fill to further define the activity.

In addition, the user interaction with the other lozenges affects thelist of activities provided through focusing. For example, when a personor group's name is selected on the people or groups lozenge, theactivities lozenge shows the top-ten activities that have been scheduledin the past with that person or group. When a location is selected fromthe locations lozenge, the activities lozenge is populated with up toten activities that have most frequently occurred at or in the vicinityof the location. When a calendar date is selected, the activitieslozenge is populated by the most common activities that occur on thatdate. For example, if a user selects Sunday morning, “Go to Church”might appear in the activities list. If the user selects the evening ofFebruary 14th, then “Valentines Day Dinner” may appear in activitieslist. If a user selects their own name from the people lozenge, then theactivities lozenge is populated with the top ten activities attended bythe user. A user may select an activity from the list 1007 with a userinput device, and drag the activities onto the calendar lozenge to aparticular day and/or time to create a calendar event for that activity,as explained in further detail below.

FIG. 10 also shows an example of a small, a large, and an extra large aTo-Do lozenge. The To-Do lozenge helps keep of list of items that a userwants to complete and keep track or be reminded of.

The small To-Do lozenge 1010 just includes the title “To-Do.” The mediumTo-Do lozenge 1015 includes a list of up to the ten oldest To-Do items1017. Each To-Do item on the list 1017 may include a user selectableinput to indicate completion of the item, such as a check or tick box.Using a user input device the user may select the input to cause avisual mark to appear in the box (e.g., a check mark or x) to indicatethat an item has been completed. In addition, the marked item may bevisually distinguished (e.g., highlighted or low lighted or grayed out)moved to the end of the list and marked as “done.” A search/add datafield 820 may be provided to search for a particular To-Do item from thelist and to add a new item to the To-Do list.

The large To-Do lozenge 1020 includes a complete list 1022 of all auser's To-Do items. In addition, a navigation aid 830 is provided tonavigate or scroll through the entire list if there are more items onthe list than may be displayed in the space provided. A search/add datafield 820 also is provided.

The To-Do items may have associated with them information fields aboutchores and/or tasks that a user wishes to remember and complete, such asa name field, a description field, a start date/and or time field, areminder field, and an indication of completion of the item (e.g.,“Done” or a completion date and/or time). When open to the large orextra large lozenge, To-Do items may be created by the user directlytyping a new item in the list. The To-Do list items may be re-ordered,edited, checked off by the user. Items may be reordered simply byselecting an item and dragging it to another position on the list. Eachitem may include a user selectable input to indicate completion of theitem, such as a check box. Using a user input device the user may selectthe input to cause an indication to appear in the box (e.g., a checkmark or x) to indicate that an items has be completed. In addition, thechecked item may be visually distinguished (e.g., highlighted or lowlighted or grayed out), moved to the end of the list and marked as“done.”

The extra large To-Do lozenge 1025 also includes a complete list 1026 ofall To-Do items and the various information fields, such as, acompletion indicator 1027, a date added 1028, a date completed 1029, anda reminder date (not shown). The items may be re-ordered, edited,checked off. The list may be sorted by: due date, reminder date, whenadded, letter or alphabetically, and done and/or completion date.

FIG. 10 also shows examples of the shopping lozenge. The shoppinglozenge may be used to keep track of all items to be purchased by auser. FIG. 10 shows a small, a medium, a large, and an extra largeshopping lozenge. The small shopping lozenge 1030 just includes thetitle “Shopping.” The medium shopping lozenge 1032 includes a list 1034of up to ten oldest shopping or highest priority shopping items. Eachshopping item on the list 1034 may include a user selectable input(e.g., a check or tick box) to indicate the item has been purchased.Using a user input device the user may select the input to cause avisual mark to appear in the box (e.g., a check mark or x) to indicatethat an item has been purchased. In addition, the marked item may bevisually distinguished (e.g., highlighted or low lighted or grayed out)moved to the end of the list and/or removed. A search/add data field 820may be provided to search for a particular shopping item from the listand to add a new item to the list.

The large shopping lozenge 1040 includes a complete list 1042 of all auser's shopping items. The complete shopping list 1042 may bere-ordered, edited, checked off. Items may be reordered simply byselecting an item and dragging it to another position on the list. Eachitem may include a user selectable input to indicate purchase of anitem, such as a check box. Using a user input device the user may selectthe input to cause an indication to appear in the box (e.g., a checkmark or x) to indicate that an items has been purchased. Alternatively,purchased items may be removed from the list. In addition, a navigationaid 830 is provided to navigate or scroll through the entire list ifthere are more items on the list than may be displayed in the spaceprovided. A search/add data field 820 also is provided to add items oritems may be added by directly typing them in the list.

The extra large shopping lozenge 1043 also includes a complete list 1045of all shopping items in addition to various information fields, suchas, a user selectable input to indicate purchase of an item 1046, adescription 1047, a date added, a date purchased, and an amount 1049.Shopping items may be created and added to the shopping list by the userdirectly typing a new item in the list. The items may be re-ordered,edited, checked off. The list may be sorted by: description, datepurchased, amount, date added, and by letter or alphabetically.

FIG. 10 also shows an example of a small, a medium, a large, and anextra large read lozenge. The read lozenge also a user to receive andmanipulate various communications directed to the user.

The small read lozenge 1060 just includes the title “Read.”

The medium read lozenge 1062 includes a list of identifiers 1064 for themost recent, unopened, new messages and/or threads that have beenreceived by the service provider system 110 directed to the user. Thelist may include an indicator of the contact from whom the message wassent and a subject indication.

The large read lozenge 1065 includes a complete list 1067 of identifiersfor all new messages and/or threads stored by the service providersystem 110 which have not yet been responded to by the user. Theidentifiers may include a name of the contact sending the message and atopic of the thread. In addition, an indication (not shown) of thenumber of new messages associated with the thread or topic may beprovided. If there are more message indicators than may be displayed inarea of the lozenge a navigation aid 830 (e.g., a scroll bar, a sliderbar, direction arrow keys, grab and move pointer, or a pointing device)may be used to navigate through or see the remaining portion of thelist. In addition, search/add field 820 may be provided to search for amessage.

FIG. 11 shows and example of the extra large read lozenge 1070. Theextra large read lozenge 1070 includes a complete list 1075 ofidentifiers messages and/or threads stored by the service providersystem 110 in addition to various information fields, such as, a contactsending the message 1076, a topic of the message 1077, a date themessage was received 1078, a number of entries in the message thread1079, and who is to respond to the message 1080. Next to each identifier(not shown) an indication of how long (e.g., minutes, hours, days) thesender of a message has been waiting for a response. The user may selectany identifier of any thread to read, edit responses, add responses, andperform other actions. Five input filtering options selections areprovided for these threads: current subjects, by person, by date, bylateness, and archived. The current subjects input may be selected todisplay indicators of threads that are current. Current may be definedas a period of time set by the user's preferences and/or may includeindicators of threads that have not been responded too. The by personinput sorts the list of thread indicators alphabetically by contactname. The by date input sorts the list of threads indicators by datelisting the newest threads first. The by lateness input sorts the listof thread indicators by respondent lateness. The archived input opens acomplete list of indicators of archived threads that have previouslybeen closed by the user.

As shown in FIG. 12, selecting any thread or message indicator fromeither the list with a user input device (e.g., using a cursor orpointer or highlighted area controlled by a mouse, keypad/board,pointing device, touch-screen/pad to select the thread indicator) opensthe thread in a popup window 1200 for viewing by the user. The window1200 may include an informational area 1201 and a message area 1202. Theinformational area 1201 includes the type of message (e.g., personal,business, group) (not shown), the message thread identifier 1205, astart time of the message thread (not shown), and a time of lastresponse (not shown). The message area 1202 includes an area 1210 (e.g.,a rounded box) at the top of the message thread 1211 where the user mayenter or type their response to the latest received message 1212. Belowthe box is the text of each piece of the message thread 1211 and anindicator 1215 of whom the piece text of the thread was generated by. Amessage type/link icon 1220 may be provided in the window next to eachreceived text which notifies the user which account or media type (e.g.,POP3 work, POP3 home, virtual fax, IM, SMS, site specific email, etc.)that was used to send the text associated with the message. Selectingthe icon 1220 with a user input device opens another window (not shown)to display the original message in its full original format.

FIG. 10 also shows an example of the send lozenge. The send lozenge isused to send messages to contacts. The send lozenge may be locked at theend of the WHAT strip 733 and is provided in only as a small sendlozenge 1080. In one example, the small send lozenge 1080 may beslightly larger than other small lozenges to accommodate one or moreinputs 1081. In one example, the inputs are share, chat, and organize(not shown).

To send a message the user simply selects a name of a contact from thepeople lozenge, or the name of a group from the group lozenge of the WHOstrip 731 using a user input device. After selecting the name, the userdrags the name from the list of the WHO strip 731 onto any one of thebuttons: share, chat, and organize. Alternatively, the user may selectone of the inputs 1081 with a user input device. Selecting one of thesend inputs 1081 causes the service provider system 110 to create apop-up window for display as a screen on the user device. The screen(not shown) includes the message “Who shall I send the message to?” Thescreen also includes a window in which the user may type the contact orgroup name or select a name from a drop down menu.

The share button may be used to share pictures, videos, web sites,computer documents (e.g., PDF, MS Word, etc.), FYI, change of address,newsletter, and a vacation notification) and other content with contactsand groups. The chat button may be used for personal talk, group talk,polls, and event creation. The organize button may be used to create anevent (one-time or repeating), such as, an appointment, a meeting, aparty/group event; an RSVP party (e.g., a wedding or a birthday), apotluck or any other gathering of contacts. Each input causes a popupwindow to request information typically specific to that type ofcommunication. If the name of the group or contact is dragged to thebutton, the popup window is automatically populated with the contactinformation for the type of message. Once the user enters the requestedinformation, the message is sent by the service provider system 110using the selected format and/or protocol for the type of message. Inaddition, the threader adds the message to the message archive.

The WHAT strip 733 also may include a buy lozenge as shown in FIG. 13.The buy lozenge may be small, medium, large or extra large. The WHATstrip 733 also may include a buy lozenge. FIG. 13 shows examples of thesmall, medium, large or extra large buy lozenge. The small buy lozenge1301 just includes the title “buy.” The user can drag any item to thebuy lozenge to instruct the service provider system 110 to purchase theitem. The medium buy lozenge 1310 includes a list 1315 of the top fiveitems that the system is currently trying to buy for a user. The largebuy lozenge 1320 includes a complete list 1325 of all items beingpurchased by the system. The extra large buy lozenge 1330 provides acomplete list 1333 of all items being purchased by the system. If thereare more items that can be displayed, a navigation aid 820 is provided.A description area 1335 provides information 1340 about a selected item1345 from the list. The information may include a name, delivery date,delivery location, total price, account payment was made by. Inaddition, a change buying preferences button 1350 is provided to accessvarious fields that store user preferences allowing a user to specifyprice ranges for products, payment information, delivery addresses andother instructions pertinent to making a purchase.

The personal profile allows a user to specify specific items and typesof items the system service provider 110 may automatically buy for theuser. The user may specify what price ranges (e.g., a maximum, a minimumor both) that are okay for the system service provider to user indetermining whether to make a purchase. The user profile buy informationmay include payment information, such as credit card, debit card,paypal, online banking information, a single purchase spending limit, amonthly purchase spending limit, and a card balance limit. The user alsomay specify shipping preferences, such as carrier preference (e.g., UPS,Fed-X, USPS, etc.), transit preference (e.g., overnight, 2 day, “slowand cheap”), shipping address, special shipping instructions (e.g.,doorbell inoperative), and instant delivery preferences.

The buy lozenge may be withheld or not appear on the WHAT strip 733until a user provides their user buy information. Once set up, the usercan drag any item to the buy lozenge to instruct the system serviceprovider to purchase item. For example, a user has a To-Do item thatidentifies “Replace flapper valve.” The user drags the item to the BUYbutton. The service provider system 110 determines the best priceavailable online for a toilet flapper valve, orders it using theprovided customer buy information, and places an item or event on theuser's calendar with the expected arrival date.

In another example, the user has an item, or items on the shopping listthat they are unable to find time to buy, or would prefer not goshopping for the item at this time. The user drags the entire shoppinglist, or individual items to the BUY button, and the service providersystem then buys those items for the user. In another example, a userhas a calendar appointment, such as BBQ. In this example the user dragsthat item to BUY causing the service provider system 110 to look up auser profile and determine a user's identified foods associated with anevent, such as a BBQ. The service provider system 110 then purchases theuser's identified BBQ foods. Similarly, a calendar appointment “skitrip” causes the service provider system 110 to book transportation(flight from local air port to destination), lodging (e.g., hotel fornights specified by trip event in calendar), and activities (e.g.,advance purchase of lift tickets for closest ski resort). In yet anotherexample, the user drags a contact name onto the BUY button. The serviceprovider system 110 identifies any dates, events, or activitiesassociated with the contact (e.g., birthday, Christmas, retirementparty). The service provider system 110 may purchase a gift for thespecified contact. If the contact is a user of the service providersystem 110, the system may use receiver's profile in determining asuitable gift.

The WHERE strip 735 provides information above a user's favorite places(e.g., restaurants), locations, destinations, addresses, and otherinformation such as maps and navigation aids. The user may look at orcreate instant maps to link any locations together and/or receivepoint-to-point directions. The WHERE strip 735 includes two lozenges:maps and location. FIG. 14 shows examples of small, medium, large andextra large maps and locations lozenges.

The locations lozenge includes locations of interest to a user. Thesmall locations lozenge 1401 just includes a title “locations.” Themedium locations lozenge 1405 includes a short locations list 1410 of upto ten locations that may be interest to a user at any particularmoment. Examples of locations: may be restaurants, businesses the userfrequents (stores, malls, markets), contact's address, institutionsfrequented by the user (schools, DMV, church, parks). In particular, thesystem service provider 110 focus the locations provided in the list1410 based on the user's interaction with the other lozenges of the userinterface. For example, when the user selects a contact from the peoplelozenge, the list 1410 is populated with the “Top Ten” locationsassociated with that person. When a user selects a group from the grouplozenge, the list is populated with the “Top Ten” locations associatedwith that group. When an activity from the activities lozenge isselected, the list 1410 is populated with the “Top Ten” locationsassociated with that activity. When any time and date in the calendar isselected, the list 1410 is populated with the “Top Ten” locationsassociated with that day at that time. The medium locations lozenge 1401also includes a search/ add data entry field 820. The search/add field820 may be used to search for a location within the user's database oflocations associated with the user. As a user enters characters withinthe field, the system automatically provide a list of locations (notshown) matching those letters typed by the user. The user may select anylocation from the list at any time or continue adding characters. If alocation entered in the field 820 is not in the database, the serviceprovider system 110 asks the user if they wish to add the location tothe database. If so, the system saves the location in a database oflocations associated with the user.

The large location lozenge 1415 includes a complete list of userlocations 1417. If there are more locations than may be displayed inarea provided by the lozenge, a navigation aid 830 (e.g., a scroll bar,a slider bar, direction arrow keys, grab and move pointer, or a pointingdevice) may be used to navigate through or see the remaining portion ofthe list. In addition, search/add field 820 may be provided to searchfor or add a location.

FIG. 14 also shows the maps lozenge. The maps lozenge provides an easyto use interface to allow a user to search for and find informationabout a location.

The small maps lozenge 1425 just includes a title “locations.” Themedium maps lozenge 1430 includes small map window 1435 for a selectedlocation. An address 1437 for the location also may be displayed alongwith several inputs (not shown), such as print directions, send tomobile device, and share location.

The large maps lozenge 1440 also includes a map window 1435, a locationaddress area 1437, user inputs 1439, and a custom finder 1450. The extralarge maps lozenge 1455 has the same functionality as the large maplozenge but includes a larger map window 1435 and a driving directionswindow.

The map window 1435 shows a map of a location. The maps lozenge locationis focused based on a person selected from the people lozenge or anactivity selected from the activities lozenge, or as a result ofselection a location or using the input field 820 to look up an addresson the locations lozenge. The map displayed by the map window 1435 maybe scalable to zoom in and out from a birds-eye-view using a user inputdevice. For example, user inputs (not shown) neighborhood, city, county,state, and region may be provided to adjust the area displayed by themap, a slider bar may be selected to zoom in and out, or buttons 1460may be selected to increase or decrease the scale of the map. Inaddition, the user input device may be used to control the zoom feature(e.g., a scroll wheel provided on a mouse). The map may include anindicator of the location within the context of the map.

Using a screen position indicator (e.g., a cursor or a pointer) inconjunction with a user input device (e.g., a key pad/board/buttons or amouse) or using input directly from a user input device (e.g., a stylusor finger touching a touch screen) the user may select a point on themap. Maintaining selection on the map, the user may manipulate theposition indicator or stylus in along one or two axis to draw a box orrectangle on the map. After drawing the box, the system automaticallypopulates the area outlined by the box with information and/orindicators of all contacts and/or events that have addresses stored bythe system databases that correspond to the location on the map withinthe user drawn box. Position of a cursor or pointer on the indicatorscauses a pop address (not shown) to appear associated with theindicator.

The maps lozenge includes several user selectable inputs 1537:directions to this location, find near this location, and transfer datato GPS/Smartphone. Selecting directions to this location providesdirections to the selected location from a current location of the user(as determined from the user database or GPS data provided by the userdevice 101). Additionally, the user may provide a start location tomanually configure a desired route.

The find near this location inputs include a dynamic list of a number ofinputs that are most likely to be desired by a user viewing the locationinformation. The service provider system may determine the dynamic listbased on data stored in the user profile (e.g., favorites and dislikesprovided by the user) and/or empirical information of data found mostuseful by users. For example, the inputs fuel stations, restaurants, andWIFI hotspots may be selected. Selecting any one of the inputs causes avisual indicator to appear on the map of the locations associated withthe selected input. Placing a cursor, a pointer, or other usercontrollable selection mark over the indicator causes a small popup todisplay in association with the indicator giving more details and adynamic hyperlink to a webpage for the entity represented by theindicator. In addition, selecting the indicator allows the user toobtain directions to the address associated with the displayed entity.

The transfer data to GPS/SMART phone input allows a user to transferinformation, such as directions or files stored by the system serviceprovider 110 to a user's mobile device. As a result, the user may accessthe directions or files using the mobile device.

The custom map finder 1450 provides a window that includes a number ofinputs 1466 that may be selected by the user to populate the map withinformation. The service provider system 110 automatically populates thelist with inputs based on the user's profile and interaction with thesystem. The list shown in the example of FIG. 14 includes inputs forMexican food, pizza, Ford parts, and Art Theatres. Selection of ininput, for example, fuel stations, causes the map to display indicatorsfor fuel stations within the displayed area of the map window. The listof inputs is dynamic and is automatically populated at any particulartime by the system to display those inputs to be of most use to a user.For example, the system may use time of day (e.g., lunch time or dinertime) to display inputs for food choices based on the user profilestored in the system DB. Other inputs may be chosen based on informationprovided by the user questionnaire and user profile stored in thedatabase, for example, indicated interests and hobbies of the user. Thesystem may also search a user's upcoming events to populate the listwith inputs. For example, if a task on the To-Do list includes “Get oilchanged for Car” the dynamic list may be populated with the inputservice stations. If the user has an event scheduled, the list mayprovide an input “hotels” to suggest places to stay based on the eventlocation.

The search/add window 820 may be provided to allow a user to manuallyenter in a location, name, contact, or business using a user inputdevice. The input is provided to the system (e.g., by selecting an enterbutton or selecting and icon such as a magnifying glass). The systemperforms a search based on the input information and displays a result.The user selects an item from the list. The address is then displayed asthe location and the map is automatically adjusted to display thelocation based on the selection.

The WHEN strip 737 keeps track of time sensitive or related informationfor the user. The WHEN strip 737 includes a single lozenge: a calendarlozenge. The calendar lozenge displays information for a user includingindicators, identifiers, and data for all activities, to-do items,appointments, and other data items having a time based element that thesystem 110 tracks for the user to allow a user to manage and organizetheir daily events. The size of the days and weeks dynamical adjustbased on user interaction with the calendar lozenge, as explained infurther detail below. The calendar lozenge may be large and extra large.FIG. 15 shows an example of the large calendar lozenge 1501. The largecalendar lozenge 1501 provides an agenda area 1510 and a mini calendar1515. The agenda area 1510 shows a list of the user's next ten events.The mini calendar is a smaller calendar that shows busy and free timesbut no details. The large calendar is two columns wide.

FIG. 16 shows the extra large calendar lozenge 1601. The extra largecalendar lozenge 1501 is approximately three columns wide. The extralarge calendar lozenge 1601 includes a calendar indication days of theweek (e.g., Sunday-Saturday) and days of the month (e.g., 1-28, 1-29,1-30, and 1-31). The calendar also includes an information bar 1615. Theinformation bar 1615 includes an indicator of the month 1617, the year1619, a today button 1620, and inputs 1625 personal, family, friends,and business to control display of items within the calendar to presentevents associated with a selected input. The month indicator 1617displays the month (e.g., May) currently displayed by the calendar. Themonth may be changed by selecting the arrow inputs 1627 to either sideof the month indicator 1617 to move to the next or previous month fromthe month displayed. The year indicator may be selected to change theyear displayed. Additional inputs week view 1630 may be used to adjustthe size of any week displayed, as described below. One or more theinputs 1625 may be selected at anytime to toggle the display of eventsassociated with the selected event category (e.g., personal, family,friends, and business). For example, selecting personal and familycauses the calendar to display user events of type personal and family.Unselecting an input removes those corresponding events. In thisexample, unselecting family causes all events of family type to beremoved leaving only personal events displayed.

Within each day displayed on the calendar are indicators for anycalendar events stored by the system associated with that date for auser. As shown in FIG. 16, the calendar is focused on personal calendarevents of the user. The calendar events may include To-do items orreminders (e.g., 7 am May 1^(st) “walk the dog”), shopping items (notshown), activities (e.g., 8 pm May 16^(th) “Bowling League” and “SkiTrip”), and appointments, seminars, engagement, and meetings (e.g., 4 PMmay 3^(rd) “BBQ” and “Management Retreat”), and coupons and/oradvertisements from the glad bar (not shown).

The user may create an event by selecting an item from any lozenge witha user input device and dragging the item from the originating lozengeto a date and/or time within the calendar lozenge. For example, a usercan drag a name from the people or the group lozenge, an activity fromthe activities lozenge, a to-do item form the to-do lozenge, an emailfrom the read lozenge, a shopping item from the shopping lozenge, andaddress from the maps lozenge, a location from the locations lozenge, toa calendar date to create an event. For example, the user may selectcontacts “Bob”, “Cindy”, and “Jennifer” from the people lozenge, “SkiTrip” from the activities lozenge, and “Big Bear” from the locationslozenge, and drags them all to the Sunday May 4^(th) to create a skitrip calendar event 1635. A calendar event popup window with data fieldsis then presented to the user, as shown in FIG. 17.

FIG. 17 shows a user interface with the event popup window 1601. Thewindow 1601 includes a number of data entry fields that areautomatically populated with information corresponding to the itemsdragged onto the date (e.g., the people, the activity, and the locationin this example). For example, the window 1701 may include the dataentry fields nickname 1710, location 1720, description 1730, attendees1733, start 1735, end 1737, and category 1740 (e.g., personal, family,friends, and business). Information missing from the data entry fieldsmay then be supplied by the user. Once the information is supplied, theuser may select the save button 1745 to stored information in the userdatabase for the event and close the popup window. A cancel button 1750may be used close the window and cancel the event. A calendar event alsomay be created by selecting a date and/or time directly from thecalendar using a user input device causing the event popup window 1701to be presented in which the user may enter information in any pertinentfield and/or drag items from other lozenges onto the popup window.

A calendar event may be given a nickname (e.g., “Ski Trip) as theidentifier displayed in the calendar for easy reading and/oridentification by a user. The item name field may be used toautomatically build a nickname. For example, if the nickname is leftblank the system automatically picks the name of a lozenge item draggedto create the event. For example, if ski trip is dragged for theactivity lozenge then the event nickname may default to ski trip. Thenickname may be edited by the user to override any automaticallygenerated nickname.

In another example, items directly dragged to a calendar date mayautomatically create an event. If a lozenge item is dragged to any dateon the calendar in the month view, an event is automatically created atfor noon on the that date with whatever content is associated with thelozenge. For example, if Bill is dragged to June 1, an event nicknameBill is provided for a 1 hour meeting with Bill at noon on June 1^(st).A message is sent to invite Bill. The user may select the item on thecalendar to access the event and to edit or provide further details. Ifa lozenge item is dragged to the expanded week view or day view, thenthe event is scheduled for the hour time slot the item is dragged to onthe calendar as a default. The hour slot is also visual highlighted orshaded to indicate the planed time of the meeting. The user may thenadjust the timing of the event using a pointing user input device toselect the a border or portion of the highlighted region to expand orcontract the highlighted area to increase or decrease, respectively, thetime scheduled for the event.

The service provider system stores the calendar event information in theuser database. The database has a number of associated fields, such as ageneral type (e.g., appointment, activity, entertainment, travel, andmeeting). In addition, the fields also provide for time and date, startand end, attendees, invitees, a location, items needed, event categorytype (e.g., personal, friends, family, and business), among others. Anyinformation associated with a lozenge that is dragged to create theevent is populated in the fields. This information may be changed,deleted or supplemented by the user. In addition, the fields also may becustomized for information solicited based on the type of event (e.g., aparticular activity, such as “BBQ” may include additional informationlike catering, potluck, bring an item). The information requested by thefields may be filled in by entering information in the field using auser input device. In addition, further items may be dragged fromlozenges to the popup window to continue to fill out the eventinformation. For example, additional names may be dragged from thepeople lozenge, a location from the location lozenge, a shopping listfrom the shopping lozenge. In addition to the nickname, a descriptor, adescription/notes, and an advertisement or coupon from thegraphic/advertising bar may be provided.

Once the information fields are filled in and provided to the system, anevent may be automatically organized by the system as described in U.S.application Ser. No. 12/141104, titled “Communications System withDynamic Calendar,” filed Jun. 18, 2008, which is herein incorporated byreference in its entirety.

All items shown in the calendar are color coded based on an event type,such as personal, family, business, and friends. In addition, inputs1625 are provided to filter information displayed in the calendar. Forexample, inputs 1625 personal, business, family, friends may be providedto filter or overlay display of calendar items of the type selected or acombination thereof. One, several, or all of the inputs 1625 may beselected at any time. Color coded identifiers for each calendar eventare shown on their respective days. If there are more identifiers thanmay be shown in the space provided, the identifiers shown may befiltered. For example, a priority (such as importance, time of day, nextoccurring, events requiring user action or providing updated informationor alerts) or the types of events shown (e.g., family, friends,business, personal), or a combination thereof may be used to filter theinformation presented. In addition, if sufficient space is unavailablethe events displayed may be periodically rotated.

The system service provider 110 maintains calendar data for each systemuser. As a result, the calendar may be used to show data from othercalendars which may be useful in planning events, such as meetings. Forexample, selecting the identifier for a system user “Frank” from auser's people lozenge causes the calendar 1601 to change to the calendarshown in FIG. 18. As shown in FIG. 18, the calendar 1801 now includesindications 1805 of periods of occupied time for which Frank has eventsscheduled. This is very useful for user's trying to schedule meeting.For example, looking at the calendar 1801, the user may determine themorning of May 17^(th), Frank is unavailable to have a meeting. Holdinga cursor/pointer over the indications 1705 causes a popup indication ofthe exact time period when in the month view shown in FIG. 18.

In addition, event categories also may be used to filter/displayinformation. For example, FIG. 19 shows the user has selected the input1625 family to display calendar 1901. As shown, the events walk the dog,management retreat, and bowling league have been removed, family event“ski trip” is shown. In addition, family members events for Jenifer 1910and Carol 1920 are shown.

A unique feature of the calendar that it dynamically adjusts the spaceneeded to display portions of the calendar while maintainingpresentation of every day in the month displayed, as shown in FIG. 20,21, and 22. FIG. 20 shows a calendar lozenge with the calendar in themonth view 1601. As shown, a week view input 1530 is provided for eachweek displayed in the month view 1601.

Selecting the week view input 1630 for the week of May 5^(th) though the11^(th) expands the area used to display the selected week on the screenwhile reducing the other weeks presented by a corresponding amount, inthe expanded week view as shown in FIG. 21. In the expanded week view2101, more event identifiers may be displayed concurrently and otherevent details and information in addition to the event identifier (e.g.,a time of event) may be presented. Additionally, segments for the hoursduring each expanded day or a timeline may be presented. At the sametime, all other days outside the expanded week shrink to a smaller size.In this mode, the small days use color codes in combination with anumber indicate events for that day. The color indicates the type ofevent that day and the number indicated the number of events of thistype on that date.

Two additional inputs are also provided. An expand input 2110 isprovided for each day in the expanded week and a month view input 2120is provided for the expended week. Selection of the month view input2120 causes the screen to return to the month view 1601 shown in FIG.20.

Selection of the expand input 2110 for any day in the week causes thearea for the selected day to expand with a corresponding reduction inthe area of the remaining days in the expanded week as shown in FIG. 22.The expanded day view 2201 may include a time line, larger fonts, andaddition information provided for each event (such as identifier, time,location, attendees, and notes). In addition, a today button 1620 isprovided on all of the views (2001, 2101, and 2201) to automaticallyexpand the calendar to the expanded day view 2201 open to the currentdate. The expanded day view 2201 also may include a week view input 1630to return the week to the expanded week view 2101, and a month viewinput 2120 also is provided to cause the screen to return to the monthview 1601 shown in FIG. 20.

Item Dragging

Because the service provider system 110 dynamically maintains all systemuser data, any item from a lozenge may be selected by a user inputdevice and moved to another lozenge (e.g., dragging a selected item inone lozenge to the area of the user interface defining or occupied by asecond lozenge) to cause the system to automatically perform an actionsand services. This allows a user to harness the information stored byand the automation provided by the system to perform tasks for the userin a straight forward and easy manner. For example, a user may selectand drag a person or a group from the people or groups lozenge to: thecalendar to create an appointment or to the send lozenge to send amessage to the person or group

FIGS. 23-25 shows an example of adding a user to a group. FIG. 23 showsthe user has selected “me” 2301 from the people lozenge. The selection2301 causes the groups lozenge to focus on groups the user belongs to.FIG. 24 shows that Contact “Charles Miller” 2401 is selected from thepeople lozenge and dragged 2402 to the group “Biker Club” 2410. Inresponse, the service provider system 110 automatically accesses theuser database and adds an indication for “Charles Miller” to group“Biker Club.” FIG. 25 shows the “Biker Club” 2510 is selected causingthe people, activities, read, and locations lozenges to focus on thebiker club related items. For example, people is focused to contact inthe Bike Club (e.g., Me, Charles Miller, Jeff White, and Donald Lewis),activities is focused to bike activities (e.g., biker night, charityrun, poker run), the read lozenge includes message sent by Bike Clubmembers (e.g., Next Ride, Good Mechanic, and My New Bike), and locationsto bike related locations (e.g., Route 66, Piston Club, HarleyDealership, Bike world).

In another example, items directly dragged to a calendar date mayautomatically create an event. If a lozenge item is dragged to any dateon the calendar in the month view, an event is automatically created fornoon on that date with whatever content is associated with the lozenge.For example, if Bill is dragged to June 1, an event nickname Bill isprovided for a 1 hour meeting with Bill at noon on June 1st. A messageis sent to invite Bill. The user may select the item on the calendar toaccess the event and to edit or provide further details. If a lozengeitem is dragged to the expanded week view or day view, then the event isscheduled for the hour time slot the item is dragged to on the calendaras a default. The hour slot is also visual highlighted or shaded toindicate the planed time of the meeting. The user may then adjust thetiming of the event using a pointing user input device to select aborder or portion of the highlighted region to expand or contract thehighlighted area to increase or decrease, respectively, the timescheduled for the event.

Combinations of items also may be dragged and dropped as shown in FIGS.26-30. For example, FIG. 26 shows a contact “Sarah Baker” 2601 isselected from the people lozenge causing the other lozenges to focusbased on Sarah Baker. FIG. 27 shows the user has selected “dinner” 2701from the activities lozenge causing the locations lozenge to focus ondinner locations. FIG. 28 shows the selection of a location “Venti Bar”2801 from the locations lozenge. FIG. 29 show the user drags 2901 theselected items to Saturday May 10^(th) on the calendar lozenge. Thesystem then automatically creates an event in the calendar for dinner atthe Venti Bar with Sarah on May 10^(th) and displays a correspondingindicator 3001 as shown in FIG. 30. Of course, many other combinationsare possible.

In another example shown in FIGS. 31-34 a user creates an event using alocation. As shown in FIG. 31, the user selects themselves 3101 in thepeople lozenge to focus on the user. As shown in FIG. 32 the user thenselects a location “McDonalds” 3201 from the locations lozenge causingthe people lozenge to focus on people the user goes typically invites toMcDonalds, groups which go to McDonalds, activities that take place atMcDonalds, a map to a McDonalds. FIG. 33 shows the user drags 3301 thelocation to a date on the calendar lozenge (e.g., May 22^(nd)). FIG. 34shows the service provider system 110 then creates an event in theuser's database for the user at McDonalds on the Thursday May 22, 2008and displays an identifier 3401 for the event on the calendar.

Table 1 table gives some examples of other actions that may be performedby selecting items displayed in the lozenges and dragging them to otherlozenges.

TABLE 1 Action Lozenge Lozenge Action Help any any item dragged to help?or ? dragged to any item opens context sensitive help Combos (afterclick to highlight who + what when creates cal event with those itemfields populated who + where when creates cal event with those itemfields populated - prompts for event name who + what + when creates calevent with those item fields populated - where prompts for event namewhere + what when creates cal event with those item fields populatedSingle Items People Groups adds person to group People Blank Group addsperson to group, prompts for new group name People To Do creates emptyto do with text “with FN LN” People Shopping creates empty shopping itemwith text “for FN LN” People Read Same as select/highlight - shows allmessages from the dragged/selected person's name People Send - ShareOpen a “new share” box, user may drag files (using the computer's OS) orselect them with a BROWSE button, then click SHARE People Send - Open a“new message” box, user may type a message then Discuss click SENDPeople Calendar creates event that includes that person (blank area)(prompts for event name, etc.) People Calendar adds person to eventattendee list Appointment People User Picture adds contact image toslideshow People Family changes relationship of contact to family PeopleBusiness changes relationship of contact to business People Friendschanges relationship of contact to friends People A Glad Sends that Gladto that person via email People Groups People adds person to groupGroups To Do creates empty to do with text “with <group name>” GroupsShopping creates empty shopping item with text “for <group name>” GroupsRead Same as select/highlight - shows all messages from thedragged/selected group name Groups Send - Share Open a “new share” box,user may drag files (using the computer's OS) or select them with aBROWSE button, then click SHARE to share them with that entire groupGroups Send - Open a “new message” box, user may type a message thenDiscuss click SEND to send that message to that entire group GroupsCalendar creates event that includes that group (blank area) (promptsfor event name, etc.) Groups Calendar adds group to event attendee listGroups A Glad Sends that Glad to that group via email Activities To Docreates to do item with activity name Activities Read Same asselect/highlight - shows all messages associated with the draggedactivity Activities Send - Opens a requester “Who would you like todiscuss this activity Discuss with?” Activities Calendar creates event(cal event name = activity) (blank area) Activities Calendar changesname of event to new activity Appointment (cal event name = activity) ToDo People appends to do item with text “with <FN LN>” To Do Groupsappends to do item with text “with <group name>” To Do Shopping To-Dolist is moved to Shopping List To Do Send - Opens a requester “Who wouldyou like to discuss this To-Do Discuss List item with?” To Do Calendarcreates cal event (to do item = cal event name) (blank area) To DoCalendar changes name of event to new activity Appointment (cal eventname = to do item) To Do Locations Creates to do item “go to <locationname>” To Do Shopping People Opens an email to that person, subject is“Shopping for <item>”, then the user may continue to type a message andclick the SEND button. Shopping Groups Opens an email to that group,subject is “Shopping for <item>”, then the user may continue to type amessage and click the SEND button. Shopping To Do creates to do “goshopping for <shopping list item>” Shopping Send - Opens a requester“Who would you like to discuss this Discuss Shopping List item with?”Shopping Calendar create cal event “go shopping for <shopping listitem>” (blank area) Shopping Calendar Changes name of event toAppointment “go shopping for <shopping list item>” Read People Open a“new message” box, user may type a message then click SEND to send thatmessage to that person Read Groups Open a “new message” box, user maytype a message then click SEND to send that message to that entire groupRead To Do Adds message title to To-Do list Read Shopping Adds messagetitle to Shopping list Read Send - Share Open a “new share” box, usermay drag files (using the computer's OS) or select them with a BROWSEbutton, then click SHARE to share them with that the addressee listfound in that message Read Calendar Opens an event with the activity setto the message title, with (blank area) the attendee list set to theaddressee values. Missing will be a location. Read Calendar Adds messagetitle to “comments” section of the existing Appointment appointment

Focusing

The user interface also provides a unique feature called “focusing.”Focusing intuitively connects all of the interface's basic functionalityand content to provide the features and the content that are generallythe most useful to a user at any particular moment in time. For example,whenever a user selects an item provided by one of the four strips WHO731, WHAT 733, WHERE 735, and WHEN 737, the other strips and lozengesautomatically react by providing the user with the content and featureswithin the context of each strip that the user may most likely desirebased on the user's selection.

Whenever a user selects a contact name for a person or a group the otherstrips automatically adjust the information displayed based on theselection. For example, if the user selects “John Merk” in the Peoplelozenge of the WHO strip 73 1, then the Read lozenge of the WHAT strip733 also displays all current message threads between the user and JohnMerk. Similarly, the Calendar lozenge of the WHEN strip 737 displays allupcoming appointments with John Merk and all events that the user iscoordinating with him; and the maps lozenge of the WHERE strip 735displays an address and associated map for John Merk.

Focusing may be initiated by selection of content, inputs, or featuresfrom any of the strips of the user interface. For example, if the userselects a new message “John Erikson about Fishing Trip,” the Peoplelozenge displays a list of the contacts associated with the FishingTrip, and the Calendar tab displays the event on the calendar which isbeing referred to, and the locations lozenge of the WHERE strip 735displays the boat company chartered for the trip and a map of the areasurrounding the boat launch. In another example, if the user selects anevent “Weekend Away” from the activities lozenge, the conversationalthread regarding this event opens automatically in the Read lozenge ofthe WHAT strip 733, and the People lozenge opens to show Sharon'scontact information.

FIG. 35 shows an example of a process 3500 for focusing of the lozenges.The process starts 3501 when a user accesses the user interface. Theserver initially populates the people lozenge with “Me” which isautomatically highlighted as default in the initial startup of the userinterface 3505.

The applications server determines up to ten contacts from the usercontact database for the highlighted name in the peoples lozenge. Theserver selects the contacts based on the ten most frequently usedcontact, the ten most recently used contacts, or a combination of both.The server uses the determined contacts to fill the contact list of thepeople lozenge 3510.

The applications server determines up to ten of the most used groupswhich include the name of the contact highlighted in the people lozenge(in the first instance it is the default “me”). The determined groupsare then used to fill the group contact list of groups lozenge 3515.

The applications server determines up to ten of the most frequently usedactivities scheduled with name highlighted in the people lozenge. Duringan initial period of use, or if there are few activities the user hasactually participated in, the system may select activities from adefault list of activities based on the user profile in conjunction withthe time of day, the weather, any nearby holidays, the user's location,and the time of year. The server uses the determined activities topopulate the list of activities display in the activities lozenge 3517.

The applications server determines up to ten of the most used locationsscheduled for the contact name highlighted in the people lozenge. Theserver uses the determined locations to populate the list of locationsprovided by the locations lozenge 3520.

The applications server determines message threads involving the contacthighlighted in the people lozenge. The server selects up to ten messagethreads and populates the read lozenge with the thread identifiers ofthe selected message threads 3522. The server selects the newest threadsover older or unanswered threads.

The applications server determines all events including the contacthighlighted in the people lozenge. The server populates the calendarwith the determined events including the highlighted contact and theuser 3525. If the highlighted contact is not the user (i.e., “me” is nothighlighted) and the contact is a user of the service provider system110, the calendar displays any “busy time” from that person within thecalendar lozenge (e.g., black areas labeled with that person's name).

The system monitors the user interaction with the user interface anddetermines whether any people are highlighted 3528. If a user selects anew contact from the people lozenge, the previously selected contact isun-highlighted and the processes 3510, 3515, 3517, 3520, and 3522 arerepeated for the newly highlighted contact. The system also monitors theuser interaction with the user interface to determine whether a group isselected from the groups lozenge 3535.

If a group is selected, any contact previously selected in the peoplelozenge is un-highlighted 3537. The applications server determines up toten contacts in the group. The determined contact then use to populatethe contact list of people lozenge 3539.

The applications server determines up to ten of the most frequently usedactivities scheduled with group highlighted in the group lozenge. Theserver uses the determined activities to populate the list of activitiesdisplay in the activities lozenge 3542.

The applications server determines message threads involving the contacthighlighted in the people lozenge. The server selects up to ten messagethreads and populates the read lozenge with the thread identifiers ofthe selected message threads 3543. The server selects the newest threadsover older or unanswered threads.

The applications server also determines up to ten of the most usedlocations scheduled for the group name highlighted in the groupslozenge. The server uses the determined locations to populate the listof locations provided by the locations lozenge 3544.

The applications server determines all events including the grouphighlighted in the groups lozenge. The server populates the calendarwith any of the determined group events. 3547

If no group is selected, the server monitors whether any activity isselected 3550. If so, any previously selected activities areun-highlighted 3552. The server also determines up to ten of the mostused locations previously scheduled with the selected group or contactregarding the selected activity 3554. In addition, the calendar isfilled with all events featuring the activity named 3596.

If no activity is selected, the server determines if a location isselected by the user 3560. If so, any previous locations areun-highlighted 3561. The server determines a map of the selectedlocation, and the server populates the maps lozenge with the determinedmap 3565. The server also determines options including drivingdirections and others appropriate for the location and provides them onthe maps lozenge 3565. In addition, all events featuring the locationare highlighted on the calendar 3570.

The server monitors to see if any people are selected 3528. If a userselects a new contact from the people lozenge, the processes 3530, 3510,3515, 3517, 3520, and 3522 are repeated. If not, the server determinesif any group is selected 3535. If the user selects a new group from thegroups lozenge, the processes 3537, 3539, 3542, 3543, and 3544 arerepeated for the newly highlighted group. If not, the server determinesif any activity is selected 3550. If the user selects a new activity,the processes 3552, 3554, and 3556 are repeated for the newlyhighlighted activity. If not, the server determines if a location isselected 3560. If so, the processes 3561, 3565, and 3570 are performed.The server continuously monitors the user's interaction (e.g., processes3528, 3535, 3550, and 3560) to focus the lozenges accordingly.

Mobile User Interface

A modified user interface may be supplied for mobile platforms, such asmobile phones, smart phones, and PDA that have limited processing powerand/or screens. For example, WAP cell phones may be provided with an“Agenda” that allows them to see the upcoming four hours of appointmentsas a default screen. The interface may be provided with a number ofinputs that are most useful to a user in this environment. For example,for appointments in the agenda the user may select an appointment and beprovided with user inputs for specific actions with regard to thoseappointment. For example, the user may selection the options: runninglate, can't make it, and cancel meeting (with verification). Selectionof any of these options causes an automatic message to be sent allcontacts associated with the appointment indicating the user is runninglate, can't make it, or needs to cancel. The automated message iscreated by the system service provider and sent to the contactsassociated with the appointment. The message may be an instant message,email, automated phone message, or an alert or popup window of a systemuser's user interface. The user interface also may display the user'sshopping list listing the user's items. A check box or other indicatormay be provided to allow the user to check items off the list. Inaddition, the To-Do list may be provided allowing a user to see items onthe list, add items to the list, and check items off the list. Conflictresolution “alerts” and resolution System wide—12 hr email and SMSnotification on event change.

In addition to the features provided for WAP cell phones, smart phonesmay provide the additional functionality. For example, the user's agendamay also provide action notices. The smart phone also may allow a userto reorder their To-Do List. The smart phone PDA includes the dynamiccalendar. The dynamic calendar also the user to filter information viapersona/family/business categories. In addition, the user may bepresented with day/week views. The user may add an appointment, deleteAppointment, and re-order appointments in a list.

Search Tool

FIG. 36 shows an example of an improved search tool for use with thesystem. The system service provider includes a lot of information thatmay be harnessed to facilitate user searches. As pointed out above,items within lozenges may be focused for users depending on the actionswith the user interface. Similarly, user search of the web and systemdata may be focused. The user interface may provide a search tool. Thesearch tool includes a word entry field 719 to enter key words. Twoinputs are provided to search the key words on the Internet 721 andwithin the system 722. In addition, any item may be dragged to the entryfield 719 to create a search term.

The user enters a search term 3601 and selects the Internet input 721 tostart a filtered Internet search. The service provider system accesses acommon search term database 3605 to search 3610 for common search termsthat may produce irrelevant or unwanted search results. The common termdatabase 3605 includes a database of terms that may have commondifferent meanings which may lead to ambiguity. For example, the termapple may be related to a fruit, a computer, a tree, bowling term, slangfor drug, and a mollusk. The system determines whether the search termappears in the database 3615. If the term does not appear, the systemsubmits the term to a search engine in its original form 3620. If theterm is found in the common term database, the system searches the userprofile 3621 and other db items 3622 associated with the user (e.g., theto-do list, shopping list, calendar) to see if user data providesadditional information that indicates what context of the search theuser actually intended 3630.

The system determines whether the user data indicates a particularmeaning from among the common terms determined 3640. If the systemdetermines a particular meaning, the system selects the modified searchterm 3645 and submits the modify search to the search engine 3650. Forexample, if user profile indicates a user is 60 year woman, shoppinglist includes pie crust, and has visit from arborist, terms computercompany, mollusk, slang and bowling may be eliminated and a refinedsearch of apple fruit and apple tree is provided to the search engine.Regardless of which search is performed (i.e., 3620 or 3660), the searchresults are converted to a system packet that appears in the appropriatelozenge which may be dragged anywhere in the system 3660.

Glads

The system service provider is able to promotemarketing/advertising/sales of products and services through electronicdelivery of digital media, information, and content including coupons,incentives, discounts, promotions, product information, productdescriptions, product comparisons, and new product/serviceintroductions. The marketing/advertising/sales of products and servicesis promoted based on user data, including user profile, history, anddemographic information; timing, location, and/or activity (or anycombination of these among others) about the user; and the associationof the user with other system users, to provide themarketing/advertising/sales information to the user when thepresentation of the digital media has a higher chance or probability ofimpacting a user's behavior. In addition, dynamic filters associatedwith the marketing/advertising/sales information may be specificallytailor by system partners to target a desired user with a degree ofgranularity never before possible with any online marketing system.

The digital media, information, and content used by the system serviceprovider to promote goods and services are graphical “ads” or Glads.Glads are stored in a system Glad database and include Glad art, forpresentation in the graphics bar of the user interface, and Glad filtersfor targeting specific users. The Glad art may include one or more of amessage, an advertisement, a commercial, a description, a price, adiscount, a coupon, a voucher, a ticket, a rebate, a redemption, apromotion, an offer, a slogan, a trademark, a service mark, a tag line,a company, business, or organization logo, brand, or otheridentification. Glad filters also include various parameters andconditions that filter the who, what, when, where of how to trigger theserving of the Glads for presentation in the products and servicesbranding area 726 of the user interface. As a result, Glads are providedto the system users having the most likelihood of being interested inthe Glad. Glads may be created by the system service provider 110 and bysystem partners 125 and stored in a Glad database.

FIG. 37 illustrates an example of the information and data 3700 that maybe stored in connection with a Glad in the Glad DB. Typically, a Gladmany include Glad art 3701, a file type 3710, a system partneridentifier 3720, an identifier 3730, a web address 3740, filterconditions 3760, display parameters 3770, and historical data 3780.

A Glad includes digital content or Glad art 3701 that is presented tousers in the graphics bar 707 of the user interface. The digital contentmay include one or more of a graphic, an image, a picture, a video, andan audio component stored as a digital file. Some examples of the filetypes of digital formats that may be used include .gif, .jpeg, and .swf;however, any digital media that may be presented by a web browser and/orplugin may be used. The digital content also may include any number ofcharacters, colors, shapes, logos, images, animations, visual and soundeffects that covey a message to promote a product, a goods, and/or aservice. In addition, a trademark, a service mark, a tag line, acompany, business, or organization logo, and brand may be provided. Itshould be noted that FIG. 37 is representational and shows informationassociated with a Glad, but does not necessarily correspond with theactual database structure. For example, the same Glad art may beassociated with multiple and different campaigns and filter conditions.As a result, instead of storing a separate copy of Glad art for eachGlad, a reference or pointer to the file location of the Glad art maystored and used to access the Glad art associated with the Glad whenserving the Glad art to the user interface.

An indicator 3710 of the file type (e.g., .gif, .jpeg, and .swf) may bestored in association with the Glad to direct the system to useappropriate applications to serve the Glad to the user interface. Thesystem partner identification 3720 (e.g., a code, a name, a number)allows the system to identify any Glads with campaigns, monitor systempartner operations, and to generate reports. The Glad identifier 3730may be used by the system to identify a Glad. A web address 3730 may beused to provide a link to a specific a website or webpage associatedwith the Glad. For example, the web address may be used by the user'sbrowser to display the website based on a certain user interaction withthe Glad displayed in the user interface. For example, if a user selectsthe Glad art displayed (e.g., double selecting, such as double clickingon the Glad art 3701 on the user graphics bar), the web address may beused to navigate a popup browser to display a webpage or other onlinecontent associated with the Glad.

The description 3750 may include information about the Glad. Thedescription 3750 may include information about a product or a serviceassociated with the glad, such as a name, a category, a type, a SKU, anda brand. The description also may include the type of Glad, such as anadvertisement, a commercial, a promotion, a coupon, a voucher, a ticket,a rebate, or an offer. The description 3750 may include an amount, adiscount, or a value associated with the glad.

A number of filter conditions 3760 are associated with the Glad for useby the system logic to identify and/or trigger Glads that a user mayinterested in. The filters conditions include who, what, where, and whenconditions and criteria that are used for comparison to user data storedin association with the WHO, the WHAT, the WHERE, and the WHEN strips ofuser interface and the user profile information in addition to otherdata associated with the user (e.g., the weather at a user's location).The who conditions filter for groups, family and friends, and the user.The most general filter is the group filter. The group filter targetscontacts based on demographics of a user group. Family and friends ismore specific filter targeting individuals based on demographic forindividuals having a personal relation to the user, such as familymembers, friends, and business associates. The most specific filter iswho which targets the individual user based on individual demographics,such as information stored in the user's personal profile. For example,user personal profile information that may be used to target individualsincludes age, gender, income, hobbies/interests, previous shopping data,and other demographic information about individuals stored in the userprofile.

The what conditions filter for a secondary activity/event, a primaryactivity/event, a category, a brand, a product name, and a SKU. The mostgeneral of the filters is the secondary activity/event in which aparticular product/service type is specified based on the activityassociated with a calendar event to which a user is invited to. Theprimary activity/event filter specifies a particular product type basedon the activity found in a calendar event generated by the user. Thecategory filter specifies a particular product/service category or typeof product (e.g., food, grocery, meat, dairy, produce, office supply,furniture, sporting equipment, clothing, electronics, books) much likethe areas in a department store that are found in association with auser's to-do or shopping list. The brand filter specifies a particularbrand of product. The product name filter specifies a particular productname. The most specific filter is a SKU number or code that specifies aparticular product Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) (e.g., found on a user'sshopping list).

The where conditions filter for location, such as weather, a mobilelocation, a destination, and a home location. The most general filter isthe weather in which an advertiser specifies a particularproduct/service type based on the weather conditions at the location ofa user. The mobile location filter is used to specify a particularproduct/service type based on the GPS location of a user's mobile phoneor web-enabled mobile phone. The destination filters are used to specifya particular product/service type based on the user's scheduleddestination locations (e.g., a location of an event). The most specificwhere filter is the user's home location which specifies a particularproduct/service type based on the user's device's actual physicallocation.

The when conditions filter for a current time and a scheduled time. Thecurrent time filter allows a particular product/service type to bespecified based on the current (e.g., post Glad between June 1^(st) andJune 16^(th) for a Father's Day sale). In addition, the current time mayfilter for days of the week (e.g., Mon-Sun) and time of day (e.g.,morning, afternoon, evening, late night). The scheduled time filterallows a particular product/service type to be specified based on thetime of a future or past scheduled event in the user's calendar (e.g.,post Glad between x days before a calendar event and y days before acalendar event or post Glad between x days after a calendar event and ydays after a calendar event), such as, a discount for an airplane ticketprovided two weeks before a user's scheduled trip indicated on theircalendar.

One or more of the conditions filters 3760 may be specified for eachGlad to tailor who the Glad is served to wherein the more filtersspecified the more specific the individual user targeted becomes.

Display parameters 3770 also may be provided for the Glad. For example,if there are more Glads than may be displayed in the products andservices branding area 726 of the user interface, a rotation of Gladsmay begin so Glads are not excluded from presentation to the user. As aresult, the a duration may be provided such as “present Glad for minimumof minimum x seconds or minutes per presentation.”. A system partneralso may customize the presentation of Glads as part of an overallmarketing campaign or to prevent saturation of presentation of aparticular Glad. Therefore, the Glad may include additional criteria forGlad presentation and display, such as “do not rotate this Glad” andpresent this Glad for “x minutes/hours/days.” In addition, an parameterindicating the Glad may be automatically customize by including messagethat inserts the customer name may be provided.

Glad Placement Logic

The system service provider 110 uses a Glad placement application tomatch the appropriate Glad content with a user based on specificinformation stored about the user in the user database. The serviceprovider system provides powerful Glad placement because of the detailof information that the system has available at any given time for anysystem user. In order to match content, the system searches theindividual events, and the daily to-do and shopping lists stored inassociation with a user account to determine if any there are any Gladsthat match items a user may be looking for at that moment. Whilesearching the system also looks at all user information and compares theinformation against the triggers or conditions in the Glad database toselect and deliver specific advertising content/campaign to the user. Atthe very minimum, the Glad placement application posts targeted Glads tothe user even if there are no daily events based on other conditions forthe day, such as weather, seasonality, holidays, and other factors. Inaddition, the Glad placement application may verify that the campaign isappropriate for the demographics, date, day-of-week, and weather, of auser. If a Glad is determined to be a good match, then the Glad ispresented to the user.

FIG. 38 shows one example 3800 of the glad placement applicationprocess. The user database 3801 includes information on user events,shopping list, to-do list, groups, locations, and profile including apurchase history. The system also includes a database of advertisements3810, such as, for example, Glads. The Glad database 3810 includes GladFilters 3811 and Glad Art 3812. In addition, some of the Glads may beprovided by a system partners 125 running Glad campaigns 3813, asexplained in further detail below. In addition, other informationsources, such as a weather database 3815 or information outlet (e.g.,national weather service) may provide information to the system aboutweather conditions for a user. The service provider system Gladplacement application continuously monitors time sensitive items fromthe user database 3820. In particular, the system may monitor thoseitems of the user database having time elements, such as user calendarevents, the to-do list, and the shopping list.

The Glad placement application constantly monitors the dynamic and everchanging user data stored in association with the user database todetermine if any Glads are good candidates for presentation to a user3855. In order to determine if any Glads are appropriate, the systemmonitors the user database 3801 and compares items in the database foreach user to the filters 3811 associated with the Glads to determine anyuser data items matching those conditions 3855. The determination mayinclude using a natural language interpretation (NLI) application and asearch function (e.g., described above for focusing). In addition,information stored by the user database (e.g., the user profile) may beused to interpret what if any goods, products, or services areassociated with an item on a shopping, to-do list, or calendar event.For example, since the system maintains a shopping/buy history databaseto store items purchased by the user, and since people often buy thesame items over-and-over, the shopping history may be useful in aidingthe system to interpret items entered on the shopping list. Thedetermination also may include checking current or predicted weatherfrom a weather database or nation weather service 3815. When determininga match, the system Glad placement logic uses data in the conditionfilters to determine if the Glad truly is a good candidate or match fora particular user. For example, the system may determine if the Glad isfor the right user demographic, the right day/day-of-week, that the Gladis active, the right temperature at a user location, and that the userhas not already placed an order or bought the item.

If a match is determined 3840, the Glad Art 3812 is served to the userinterface for presentation in the graphic bar of the user interface3841. The system Glad placement application also determines if there isenough space in the graphic bar to present the Glad 3843. If there isenough space, the Glad is presented 3845. If the graphics bar is alreadyfull of Glads, the system rotates out the oldest glad after apredetermined minimum period for display for the oldest Glad is met3850, and then presents the new Glad in the vacated slot 3845.

FIG. 39 shows another example 3900 of the Glad placement logic formaking a comparison between a user and the Glad logic filters. The Gladplacement application selects a Glad from the Glad database 3901, andselects a user from user database 3910.

The application compares the who filter associated with the Glad todetermine if the demographics of the conditions specified apply to theuser 3915. For example, for each who filter condition specified, thesystem determines if the condition is met for the user. In this case allcondition specified must be met. Any unspecified condition is met. If nowho conditions are specified, the who filter is automatically satisfied.Examples of the conditions include user demographics, family/friendsdemographics, and group demographics. In order to check these conditionsthe system checks the user profile 3807 and the user contacts/groups3805. If any condition is not met, then the application determines thatfilter is not satisfied, and the application determines if all usershave been checked 3920. If not, the application selects another user forprocessing for the selected Glad 3910. If all users are checked, theapplication selects another Glad for processing 3901.

The application also compares the what filter associated with the Gladto determine if the conditions specified apply to the user 3925. Forexample, for each what filter condition specified, the system determinesif any condition is met for the user. Any unspecified condition is met.If no What conditions are specified, the What filter is automaticallysatisfied. Examples of the conditions include a SKU, a Product Name, aBrand, a Category, an primary activity (a user's activity), a Secondaryactivity (one a user is invited to). In order to check these conditionsthe application determines if items in the users shopping list, to-dolist, and calendar events meet the condition. To do this, a NLI may beused to determine if an item on the list corresponds to an item in thecondition. In addition, the user profile and shopping history may beconsulted to aid in the identification and/or provide disambiguationbetween multiple meanings for items. If any condition is met, then theapplication determines that filter is satisfied. If no what conditionsare met, the application determines if all users have been checked 3920.If not, the application selects another user for processing for theselected Glad 3910. If all users are checked, the application selectsanother Glad for processing 3901.

The application also compares the where filter associated with the Gladto determine if the conditions specified apply to location of the user3930. For example, for each filter condition specified, the systemdetermines if the condition is met for the user. Any unspecifiedcondition is met. If no where conditions are specified, the what filteris automatically satisfied. Examples of the conditions include a homelocation, a calendar event determined destination, a mobile (GPS)location, or weather at a user's location. If the where conditions arenot met, then the application determines that filter is not satisfied,and the application determines if all users have been checked 3920. Ifnot, the application selects another user for processing for theselected Glad 3910. If all users are checked, the application selectsanother Glad for processing 3901.

The application compares the when filter associated with the Glad todetermine if the timing conditions specified apply to the user 3935. Forexample, for each filter condition specified the system determines ifthe condition of the timing of the Glad and the timing of the user ismet. The timing conditions include a current time and a scheduledtiming. The current time is a post/pull calendar dates. Unlike the otheritems, the post/pull dates filter condition may always be specified. Inaddition, day of the week and time of day (e.g., morning, afternoon,evening, late night) may be specified for the current time. A secondcondition is between x days before/after a scheduled timed item and ydays before/after a scheduled timed item or calendar event. In thiscase, if the condition satisfying that What condition was a timed event(e.g., a calendar event or a shopping list/to-do item with a timespecified), then the second timed condition is applied. If any conditionis not met, then the application determines that filter is notsatisfied, and the application determines if all users have been checked3920. If not, the application selects another user for processing forthe selected Glad 3910. If all users are checked, the applicationselects another Glad for processing 3901.

If all the Glad filter conditions are satisfied, the user is considereda match; the Glad is served to the user interface associated with theuser 3940. The application determines if all users have been checked3920. If not, the application selects another user for processing forthe selected Glad 3910. If all users are checked, the applicationselects another Glad for processing 3901.

It should be noted that the matching of filters for who, what, where,and when, may be performed in any order; however, certain orders mayprovide faster processing speeds. Optimal orders of filters may bedetermined over time from empirical data and testing. In addition,parallel processing of the logic is possible. For example, multipleapplications and processors may focus on a specific number, selection,or group of Glads and/or users from within the whole system.

The following example illustrates the Glad placement process.

A Glad #113 includes a .jpg file of a coupon for $5 off “Spicy Good BBQsauce” and includes a link to the website www.spicygoodbbq.com. The Gladfilter conditions are specified as follows: WHO [user demographics=menand 18-50 years old, family/friends demographics unspecified, groupdemographics=unspecified]; WHAT [SKU=unspecified, product name barbecuesauce, brand=unspecified, category=condiments, activity=barbecue,picnic, BBQ secondary activity=unspecified]; WHERE [home=unspecified,calendar event determined destination=unspecified, mobile(GPS)=unspecified, weather=unspecified]; and WHEN [current time=betweenpost/pull calendar dates 06-21-08 to 09-21-08, Day of week=unspecified,and Time of day=unspecified; and scheduled time=between “x days beforethe scheduled calendar event” and “y days before the calendar event”x,y=30, 0].

A system user Martha a 35 year old female living in Seattle Wash. has anappointment on her calendar for Sunday, July 13th titled “BBQ.” Martha'shusband Bill, also a system user, is a 39 year male with the sameappointment on his calendar. The Glad placement application selects Glad#113 for placement on Jun. 23, 2008. The placement application searchesthrough system users' for placement of the Glad. Selecting Martha theapplication applies the Who filter. In this case, the applicationdetermines demographic filter is for men between 18-50 and compares itMartha's personal profile and determines she is female age 35. Thecondition is not met.

The placement application selects the next user Bill. The applicationapplies the Who filter. In this case, the application determines thedemographic filter is for men between 18-50 and compares it to Bill'spersonal profile and determines he is male age 39. The condition is met.The remaining who conditions are unspecified, and therefore are met.

The placement application applies the What filter. The placementapplication determines the Glad #113 what conditions are barbecue sauceon shopping list, any kind of condiments on shopping list, or anyupcoming events on their calendars with the words barbecue, picnic, orBBQ. Comparing these to Bill the system finds BBQ in an event for Billand the what condition is met.

The application applies the where filter. In this case, all whereconditions are unspecified, so the where condition is automatically met.

The application applies the when filter. The placement applicationdetermines Glad #113 when conditions are that the Glad will run between06-21-08 and 08-21-08” (summer) and that if it was a timed item or eventthat satisfied the What condition, the triggering timed or calendarevent must be within the next month (30 days before to 0 days before).The current date at Bill's user device is Jun. 23, 2008 so the firstcondition is met. Day of week and time of Day are unspecified so theyare met. In addition, the item triggering the what condition was acalendar event so the application determines the BBQ appointment is forJuly 13th and therefore is within the next 30 days or month so thesecond condition is met.

As all filters Who, What, Where, and When have been met, the applicationplaces an image on Bill's user interface of BBQ Ribs with the Text SPICYGOOD $5 dollars OFF a bottle with any purchase. Bill sees the Glad andclicks on it, and a window opens to window to the websitewww.spicygoodbbq.com with the offer and a description of the product.Enticed Bill drags the Glad to his shopping list. The coupon is thenoffered for printing when Bill downloads or prints his shopping list.

FIG. 40 shows on example 4000 of a process for user interactions withGlads once the Glad is served to the graphics bar of the user interface.When user selects a glad 4001, the system identifies the user input andperforms the desired action 4010. For example, if the user drags a gladto the calendar the system creates and event with the Glad. The systemalso determines if the user interaction is dragged the item to the buylozenge to attempt to purchase the related item 4020. If the user dragsthe Glad to buy lozenge, the buy lozenge is activated and the systemattempts to purchase the related item 4025 using the instructionsprovided via the buy lozenge, and apply, present, redeem any incentiveor discount provided by the Glad. The system informs the user of theresults the user 4030. If the system purchases the item and the Glad wastriggered by an item on the user's shopping or to-do list, the systemqueries the user if it should tick of the item as completed. Inaddition, the system stores a summary of the interaction with the Gladfor the campaign database 4035.

If the user has not engaged the system in an automatic buying of aproduct, the system determines whether the user is going shopping 4040.If user is not shopping, the system stores a summary of the interactionwith the glad for the campaign database 4035. If the user is goingshopping, the system checks local store inventors for the item and anyother items on the user's shopping list 4045. If the a relationship witha local business is established to allow the system servers to accessstore specific information and inventory data, the system searches thisinformation to determine if a store has existing inventory and where theitems are located. The system provides the results of the inventorysearch to the user 4050. The system also plans the shopping trip byselecting the best route or commute for the user 4055. The system findsthe best route using a mapping database to provide directions fromstore-to-store needed to purchase all items on the shopping list. Themap, route, and direction may be presented on the Maps lozenge of theuser interface. In addition, the system also may provide point-to-pointdriving directions and in-store maps to find the items on the list, anexample of which is shown in FIG. 41. If the user is at home, a pop-up abox offering to print the Glad and or any incentives or couponsassociated with the Glad is provide and a shopping agenda is provided tothe user at the user's specified home device 4060. The system alsooffers to download the information to the mobile device to storecoupons, directions, and a shopping agenda. The user also is given theoption to send an order to the store for any items on the shopping list,to preprocess the order and have the user's selection waiting for themfor pickup and/or payment 4065. In addition, the system stores a summaryof the interaction with the Glad for the campaign database 4035.

System Partners

A system partner 125 may be any type of individual, group, or entitythat provides products, goods, or services. The system partner also maybe a branding company that subsidizes or sponsors a user account on theservice provider system. The sponsored accounts may be offered to a useras a branded gift, a customer promotion, or incentive. The graphicaluser interface, described above, providing access to the serviceprovider system via one of the sponsored accounts may be branded withlogos, art, images, and advertising, and other digital media and/orcontent to brand the user interface and promote the system partner. Inparticular, a branded user interface provides a year-round targetedmarketing vehicle for the system partner's products, goods, andservices. The service provider system also provides the system partnerwith a powerful marketing/advertising tool that is able to targetindividual users with increasing degrees of specificity to provide theright information or incentive, at the right time and location andtherefore substantially increase the likelihood of the user interactingwith or using the advertisement. The service provider system 110 allowssystem partners 125 to design ad campaigns that market directly to usersbased on their interaction with the service provider system 110 and theuser information stored by the system databases.

Each system partner 125 is granted access to the service provider system110 through a communication path 130 to create and design a gladcampaign, to view the results of previous and existing campaigns, and toedit campaigns. In one example, a system partner 125 may be providedwith a username, a password, and an address or a locator to provide abrowser with access to a website provided for system partner 125 by theservice provider system 110. The system partner website provides aportal for the system partner 125 to access a glad placement applicationto manage a glad campaign. The glad creation application provides asystem partner user interface that includes a Glad creation screen and areport screen. The Glad creation screen provides an interface to asystem partner to upload information to create and edit Glads anddetermine how Glads are targeted to system users. The report screenprovides the system partner with a tool to monitor glad placement andglad campaigns.

FIG. 42 shows one example 4200 of a Glad creation screen used to createGlads. Creating a Glad includes uploading the digital media anddescription that is served up to the user, selecting filters used by theservice provider system for Glad placement, and submitting the Glad. Thecreation screen includes a file entry field 4210 and browse button 4215.The file entry field 4210 is used to enter a file location for thedigital media that will be used to create the Glad. The browse button4215 provides a convenient way to search for the file location of a gladby providing a drop down menu (not shown) of file locations andnavigation buttons to help location a desired glad file. Once the fileis located and/or selected the file path/location is displayed in thefile entry field 4215.

The creation screen also provides a visual representation of gladfilters depicted as a series of pyramids. The pyramids include inputs toset filters for serving the Glads to system users. The pyramids includea WHO pyramid 4221, a WHAT pyramid 4223, a WHERE pyramid 4225, and aWHEN pyramid 4227. The filters are used for comparison to user datastored in association with the WHO, the WHAT, the WHERE, and the WHENstrips of user interface. The each pyramid includes two or more filtersthat range from general (bottom of the pyramid) to specific (top of thepyramid) that may be used by a system partner to tailor a Glad campaignand how any Glad is served to a system user.

The who pyramid includes filters for groups 4231, family and friends4233, and the user 4235. The most general filter is the group filter.The group filter targets contacts from a user group. Family and friendsis more specific filter targeting individuals having a personal relationto the user, such as family members, business associates, andrelationships (e.g., wife/husband, parent/child). The most specificfilter is who which targets the individual user via information storedin the user's personal profile. For example, user personal profileinformation that may be used by the system partner to target individualsincludes age, gender, income, hobbies/interests, and other demographicinformation about individuals stored in the user profile.

The what pyramid includes filters for a secondary activity/event 4241, aprimary activity/event 4242, a category 4243, a brand 4244, a productname 4245, and a SKU 4246. The most general of the what filters is thesecondary activity/event in which a particular product/service type isspecified based on the activity associated with a calendar event towhich a user is invited to. The primary activity/event filter specifiesa particular product type based on the activity found in a calendarevent generated by the user. The category filter specifies a particularproduct/service category or type of product (e.g., food, grocery, meat,dairy, produce, office supply, furniture, sporting equipment, clothing,electronics, books) much like the areas in a department store that arefound in association with a user's to-do or shopping list. The brandfilter specifies a particular brand of product. The product name filterspecifies a particular product name. The most specific filter is a SKUnumber or code that specifies a particular product SKU (e.g., found on auser's shopping list).

The where pyramid includes filters based on location, such as weather4251, a mobile location 4253, a destination 4255, and a home location4257. The most general filter is the weather in which an advertiserspecifies a particular product/service type based on the weatherconditions at the location of a user. The mobile location filter is usedto specify a particular product/service type based on the GPS locationof a user's mobile device. The destination filters are used to specify aparticular product/service type based on the user's scheduleddestination locations (e.g., a location of an event). The most specificwhere filter is the user's home location which specifies a particularproduct/service type based on the user's device's actual physicallocation.

The when pyramid includes filters for a current time 4261 and ascheduled time 4263. The current time filter allows a particularproduct/service type to be specified based on the specific time at theuser location (e.g., a current time, a day, a day-of-week, atime-of-day). The scheduled time filter allows a particularproduct/service type to be specified based on the time of a futurescheduled event in the user's calendar.

The system partner selects a particular step of the pyramid to activatethe particular filter. Multiple filters on each pyramid may be selectedand filters on one of more different pyramids may be selected. A pop upwindow 4271 is presented to solicit additional information aboutspecific condition within the filter if necessary. The popup window 4271may include a list of items 4273 (e.g., hot, below zero, rain, snow), aninput 4275 (e.g., a check box) to select the item, and an indication4277 (e.g., a check mark) of selected items. Filters and conditionswithin filters may be left unspecified. Examples of specific conditionsthat may be solicited by who pyramid are as follows. For example, theuser filter a popup window may request “Provide information on the typeof user you wish to target?” Options may include age range, incomerange, hobbies/interests, gender. For the family/friends filter thesystem may indicate “the item or service is not for the user, but forsomeone they know. What is their relationship to the user?” Optionsprovided may include husband, wife, son, daughter, niece, nephew,grandson, granddaughter, grandmother, grandfather, mother, father,friend, and business associate. The group popup window may solicitinformation based on the subjects derived from system data stored forgroups allowing the advertiser to specify a general subject area forgroups that the user might be involved in. Subjects may be determined ordrawn from actual user data broken into groups, such as recreation,sports, scholastic, hobbies, activities, outdoor, nature, etc.).

The SKU filter popup window may solicit a specific product identifier,such as a UPC code(s) (e.g.: 792850110991 for Burt's bees beeswax lipbalm). The product name popup window solicits a product name (e.g., lipbalm). The brand popup solicits a brand name (e.g., Chap Stick). Acategory popup window solicits a product category which may be selectedfrom a pre-made list or via a data entry field (e.g., personal careproducts). The primary activity/event window may solicit a particularproduct type based on a user created activity found on calendar eventgenerated by the user (e.g., beach, skiing, boating) and activitiesdrawn from actual user data, such as recreation, sports, scholastic,hobbies, activities, outdoor, etc. The secondary activity/event popupwindow solicits the same information as primary event except that itspecifies activities that the user is invited to.

The weather popup window solicits information about weather at theuser's location, such as hot (over 90°), warm (over 60°), cold (below40°), freezing (below 0°), rain, and snow.

The scheduled time window solicits information about when to deliver theglad based a date range and on a future or past date. The window mayprovide a date entry field and/or mini calendar to enter a date rangefor the glad. The current time popup window provides inputs for specifictimes that may be provided specified to deliver the glad based on acurrent time, such as days of the week, time of day (e.g., morning,afternoon, evening, late night).

Once the file location of the glad digital media has been specified andthe filters have been determined, the system partner may select thesubmit button 4281 to upload the Glad digital medium to the gladdatabase and save the select filters in association with the glad. Thebrowser uploads the file using any of the available automated filetransfer protocols. The glad digital and the proposed filter setting arestored in a database in a package called a Glad Pack. The system serviceprovider may review the Glad Pack to assure that the content meets theminimum standards (e.g., file type, graphics, content, decency) and thefilter settings provided. Once approved the Glad Pack data is providedto the customer incentive database, or they contact the system partnerto make changes or adjustments to the Glad Pack info.

In one example, a system partner Big Time Golf wants to create a gladfor upcoming father's day sale of 20% Supreme golf clubs. Big Time golfuploads an image of a man receiving a card from his son with his wifelooking on and a big bow around a set of new Supreme golf clubsincluding Big Time Golf logo and the indication 20% off all SupremeClubs. Setting the filters, Big time golf specifies who (family andfriends=father, son, daughter, wife, grandfather), what (productname=golf clubs; brand=supreme; category=sports primary activity=golf;secondary activity=golf), and when (scheduled time=June 1^(st) throughJune 16^(th)).

The service provider system continuously checks the glad database todetermine if any glads are presented via the user interface. The systemsearches through data stored for each user in association with the who,what, where, and when strips and the user profile. In particular, thesystem searches the items in the lozenges associated with each strip tocompare the data stored for each user lozenge to the filters providedfor the glad in the system partner campaign database. For example, thesystem searches items stored for the To-Do and Shopping lists, andinterprets the items for comparison against the contents of theconditions in the glad database to trigger any specific glad forpresentation to a user. When the system determines the user data meetsthe conditions stored in association with the glad, then the glad ispresented via the user interface.

FIG. 43 shows an example 4300 of the report screen. The report screendisplays a summary of a Glad campaigns, detailed information, andreports for each Glad campaign that has been created by a systempartner. The screen includes a summary window 4310, a details window4320, and a report window 4330. The summary provides an indication ofhow many Glads campaigns are active and inactive. In addition, thesummary provides overall information of how many Glads have beenpresented, how many Glads have been selected or otherwise viewed, andhow many Glads have been associated with product purchases by timeperiods, such as month, week, and day.

The detail window 4320 presents individual information for each Gladcampaign. The window 4320 includes a system identifier of the Glad 4321,a thumbnail representation/preview of the Glad 4323, associated filterinformation (e.g., under which conditions it is shown) 4324 and specificinformation for how many times a Glad has been displayed, interactedwith by a user (e.g., viewed, manipulated, selected, dragged, and/orclicked on), and how many times a Glad has been associated with orinfluenced a purchase. A navigation aid 820 is provided to navigate thelist of Glads if there insufficient area within the detail window 4320to display all Glads at any one time.

A reports window 4330 is provided to automatically compile and generatereports from system data regarding the Glads. The window 4330 providesvarious inputs 4331 that may be selected by the system partner togenerate a desired report. The inputs 4331 specify a time period andtypes of Glads. The time periods that may be selected include: a dailyreport, a weekly report, a monthly report, and a year to date report.The types of Glads for which reports may be run include: by individualGlad, by all Glads, by active Glads, and by Historic Glads. Examples ofother information an data which may be stored, tracked and presentedinclude a campaign number, a campaign name (not shown), a campaignpreview (e.g., a graphic), a number of views by users (not show),seconds on screen (not shown), number of “clicks” or “hits” (not shown).System partners also may review specific user's “clicks” in an archivehistory of user matches. Partners also may use the data to determine alevel of interactivity, a level of user response to promotion, and toanalyze hits by user locations and geography and other real timeinformation to change or “fine tune” content or a campaign.

Drag and Drop Glads

As mentioned above, when a glad is triggered or served it is placed inthe graphics bar of the user interface. As shown in FIG. 44 the graphicsbar 426 includes four Glads for 20% off Expensive Cheese 4410, Wine bythe Bucket 4420, Rebate on All Sony products 4430, Try new coffee 4440.These Glads have been served to the user interface using the Gladplacement logic. Once a Glad is displayed, a user may interact with theGlad. In particular, as described above, various items presented in theuser interface may be dragged and dropped from one area to another(e.g., drag a contacts name from the group lozenge to the calendarlozenge to create an appointment with the contact). This is also truefor Glads as shown in FIGS. 44-47. In an example shown in FIG. 44 a usernotices a Glad for 20% off Expensive Cheese found in a Gourmet foodchain with a store located in the user's town. The user is interestedbecause they are attending a wine and cheese party this weekend (e.g.,as indicated by the event “wine and cheese” event 4443 on theircalendar). The user decides this coupon 4410 might be just the thing tobring to the event but is not going shopping today. Therefore, in orderto save the coupon for her shopping trip Thursday morning, she places auser selection device (e.g., a pointer or a cursor) in position (e.g.,over the glad) to select a glad (e.g., clicking a mouse button) for theglad coupon for cheese, as shown in FIG. 45. As shown in FIG. 46, theglad is captured and dragged 4601 to the calendar lozenge and dropped ona specific date or event. If no event on the calendar is present andevent is created. If an event does exist the coupon is added to theevent. In this case the service provider system automatically saves theglad coupon by creating an event 4701 associated with the user'scalendar on May 15, 2008, as shown in FIG. 47. The user is automaticallyreminded or presented with the coupon on that date. The glad also may beaccessed at any time by selecting the event. Glads also may be draggedto the top-do list, for example, a glad for lumber dragged to a to-doitem build deck. Likewise, Glads may be dragged to the shopping list ofthe shopping lozenge to be associated with an item on the list. A gladmay be dragged to an event to be stored in association with the event. AGlad may be dragged to a person on the people lozenge or group on thegroup lozenge to be sent by the user to the person or group. Dragging aGlad to the lozenge without direction to a particular item may be usedto automatically create and item. For example, drag a glad to theshopping lozenge or to-do lozenge may be used to add the item to theshopping list or to-do list.

Family Organizer

The family organizer may be implemented as a platform on a homeappliance 155, as separate user device 150 that is added to an existingappliance, or as a standalone user device 150. The family organizerpresents a specialized version of the user interface, described above,that provides a household or family with many useful functions of thestandard user interface in addition to other features specificallytailored to the home environment. The family organizer also includesadditional hardware, as described below.

As shown in FIG. 48, unlike the previous user interfaces described abovethe family user interface may be designed to run on a specific type offamily user device 4800. The family user device 4800 includes thefollowing features and functions. In one example, the family user device4800 may include a display 4801. In one example the display may be sizedto fit in a family environment, such as a kitchen appliance orcountertop. For example, the user device display may be a seven tofourteen inch diagonal, although other sizes may be used. Any type ofdisplay that may be used to present digital content may be use, asdescribed above for a user device. In one example, the display may be acontinuously on, and backlit color LCD display or equivalent. In oneexample, screen of the display 4701 may be a touch screen, such asfull-screen stylus or stylus-free touch-screens, or multi-touch touchscreen technologies that interface with a browser application of thefamily device to provide its user primary input device. For example, thescreen may be touched to select and manipulate content, such as items onlozenges and Glads from the graphics bar.

The family user device 4800 includes a processing device 4810 and memorydevice 4815 with, at a minimum, sufficient processing power and capacityto provide at least basic Internet browser functionality, such that aspecialized version of the user interface (i.e., the family userinterface) may be run on it. The processing device 4810 and memorydevice 4815 may be used to run applications and store data. Theprocessing device, memory, and applications may be the same as describedabove for a user device 101.

The family user device 4800 also may include a built-in microphone, ADC,and support hardware 4820 to allow limited voice recordings to be storedon the device's non-volatile memory. However, voice messages andrecording also may be recorded and stored as sound files (e.g., .mp3 or.wav files) and provided to the service provider system 110 via acommunications interface 4825 that may exchange data and content withthe service provider system 110 using various communications paths 130.The family user interface may access the sound files or data forplayback to the user. A built-in speaker 4830 and amplifier connected tothe processing device 4810 which is large and powerful enough to playvoice records and sound effects at a volume that may be heard in a noisyfamily kitchen environment is provided. One or more user input devices4835 (e.g., a keyboard, keypad, mouse, and/or buttons) may be provided(in addition to the touch screen or in place of the touch screen if onlyan LCD display is provided) to operated and command the family device,its components, and to manipulate and interact with the family userinterface. One or more generic or separate interfaces/drivers 4849 maybe provided to allow the processing device 4810 to communicate withand/or drive the various peripheral components (4820, 4830, 4835, and4840).

A Wi-Fi or other wireless access Internet technologies, functions orinterfaces may be provided for or as part of the communicationsinterface 4825 to allow the family user device 4800 to easily connect tothe user's home wireless network or other wireless RF networks. Forexample, the organizer also may include RF mobile phone or celltechnology components including an antenna and software and/or adedicated processing device (not shown) to enable the sending andreceiving a calls through a mobile network. The built in microphone 4820and speakers 4830 and its associated D/A and A/D circuitry may be usedin this application.

The family user device 4800 also may include a power source (not shown)such that the device is always on, always backlit, and/or ready to useat any time. The family user device 4800 provides the family userinterface when turned on or powered on, and there is no need for theuser to launch any applications or make any selections in order to getthe device 4800 to operate.

In one example, the family user device 4800 may be implemented as astandalone device similar in size and shape to “digital picture frames.”The stand-alone family organizer may include a fastening device thatattaches to an appliance, such as a refrigerator, with rubberizednon-slip magnets, or to other prominent locations with adhesive strips,such as inside the back door of the house, on the wall above alight-switch, or on a garage wall next to an entry to the house. A builtin family device 4800 is essentially identical to the stand-alonedevice, except that it is built into an appliance, such as arefrigerator.

The family user device 4800 also includes a bar-code reader 4840. Thefamily user device 4800 is provided with an activation device (e.g., auser input via the screen or a user input device or a mechanical switchor button on the housing of the organizer). A user may activate thebarcode reader 4840 to scan a barcode 4845 on an item 4847. Onceactivated, the barcode reader 4840 may remain on or active for a periodof time (e.g., 15 seconds) allowing multiple items 4847 to be scanned.The barcode reader 4840 may automatically shut-down after expiration ofthe period. In one example, the barcode 4845 may be a universal productcode (UPC) barcode. The family user device 4800 also may includesufficient non-volatile memory to store a barcode database (e.g., about90 meg) allowing the processing device 4810 to quickly look up and/ordetermine the UPC and a corresponding description of a barcode 4845 readfrom the barcode reader 4840. The processing user device 4810periodically updates the UPC database by downloading data from theservice provider system 110. A hard button (not shown) also may beprovided on the family user device 4800 to manually operate the bar codereader 4840. In this case, operation of the button automatically causesthe processing device 4810 to send the data for scanned items to theservice provider system 110 to be added to a shopping list for thefamily. In another example, an external barcode reader 4870 that may beintegrated with the communications interface and/or plugged into a portof the user device 101 along with any corresponding software anddrivers, may allow a user device 101 to operate as a fully functionalfamily organizer.

FIG. 49 illustrates one example 4900 of a family user interface screenfor the family organizer. The family user interface provides all of thefunctionality and inputs of the system user interface described above.For example, the family user interface includes an information bar 705and a graphics bar 707. The information bar may include a customizeddescriptor 4901 (“Henderson Family Organizer). Two additional inputs arealso provided: yellow pages 4910 and food delivery 4915.

In addition, family user organizer 4817 also includes the WHO 731, WHAT733, WHERE 735, and WHEN 737 strips. Each of the strips also is providedwith their corresponding lozenges (e.g., people, groups, activities,maps, etc) and inputs. In addition, the shopping lozenge includes anadditional input 4920 “barcode.” Selecting this input causes the barcodereader to activate and read barcodes off items.

The family user interface also may include an additional voice reminderlozenge 4920. The voice minder lozenge 4920 may be small or medium. Thesmall voice lozenge only includes the title “voice minder.” The mediumvoice minder lozenge 4920 also includes a voice recorder skin withinputs 4925 record a message, and inputs 4930 to play, pause, fastforward, rewind, and replay messages, and an indicator dial 4937 of theamount of space left to record messages. To record a message, a userdrags the name from the people lozenge to record a message for thatperson. The people lozenge includes an indication 4940 of how many newmessages a person has, and an input 4945 that may be selected to playthe message.

The family organizer also may be customized by the user. FIG. 50illustrates a second display for the customized family organizer. Tocustomize the family use interface, the user connects to the systemservice provider using any web-enabled user device 101, such as, forexample, a user's desktop or laptop computer. A webpage is provided tothe user that includes a special menu option for customization. Inresponse, the user enters customizing choices selected from the menu andis provided with the opportunity to upload content for presentation bythe family organizer. Customizing parameters and/or content are sent tothe family organizer via the web and changes are seen after a shortdelay. The user can customize the family organizer to decorate thescreen with family pictures, run a slide-show of family imagescontinuously, play videos, and add photo avatars for themselves andtheir contacts. In the example shown, in FIG. 50 the user interfacebackground 5001 is set to a slide show of family photographs. Inaddition, three inputs are provided: Food delivery 4910, Yellow Pages4915, and Home 5005. Selection of food delivery and yellow pages causesseparate windows to be presented as described below. Selecting the homeinput 5005 returns the family interface screen 5000 to the display.Indicators for new voice minders 5010 and messages 5015 may be provided.

FIG. 51 shows an example of the food delivery screen 5100 that ispresented when the food delivery input 4915 is selected. A user mayselect any name in the people lozenge to focus a food choice search onthat person's tastes (e.g., as stored in the user database and/or basedon the information provided in their personal profile). Similarly, auser may select any name in the groups lozenge to focus a food choicesearch on that favorites associated with the group.

A “One Touch Ordering” area 5130 present photo boxes 5135 showing thesix most recently ordered meals, regardless of restaurant or personselected. The user may simply select a box (e.g., clicking/touching thebox) to cause the system service provided to automatically order thecorresponding meal that was previously order for immediate delivery. Inresponse, the system logs onto the restaurant or food deliver facilitieswebpage, provides the order and customer information including paymentand delivery address. The system also provides confirmation message ofthe order in the users read lozenge.

The family favorites window 5140 (e.g., “Henderson's Favorites”)includes a list 5145 of all local restaurants in order of last used.Selecting a restaurant from the list 5145 causes a second window 5148 tolist, in order of frequency, the groups' favorite previous orders. A seefull menu input 5150 provides a menu of the selected restaurant in thesecond window 5148 to allow new or custom orders to be selected a lacart from the list. After the order is selected, the user may selectorder input 5151 to purchase the order. This causes the system to logonto the restaurant or food deliver facility web page, provide the orderand customer information including payment and delivery address. Thesystem also provides confirmation message of the order in the users readlozenge. The system saves the order information and adds the order tothe one touch order area.

Items from the one touch area and family favorites window 5140 cannot bedragged to the Activities lozenge. However, when the activities lozengeis highlighted, the family favorites foods and restaurants are focusedto that activity. Any item from the one touch area and family favoriteswindow 5140 may be dragged to the To-Do list, causing a To-do item to becreated. When items from the To-Do list are highlighted, the familyfavorites foods and restaurants are focused to that activity. Items fromthe one touch area and family favorites window 5140 also may be draggedto the Send lozenge to be shared or chatted about. Similarly, Items fromthe one touch area and family favorites window 5140 also may be draggedto the locations lozenge, causing an item to be created. Location items,when highlighted cause windows to present the restaurant or foodassociated with that location. The maps lozenge always shows a map ofany item or location that may be highlighted, in addition to thedirections and a customer finder feature.

The recycle bin is replaced with block input 5155, which removes asearch entry from ever appearing again in the search boxes. As a result,a user may eliminate businesses from re-appearing if they do not like orhave no interest in those businesses.

FIG. 52 shows an example of the Yellow Pages or listings directoryscreen 5200 that is presented when the Yellow Pages input 4910 isselected. A user may select any name in the people lozenge to focus aYellow Pages or other listings directory search on that person'sinterests (e.g., as stored in the user database and/or based on theinformation provided in their personal profile). Similarly, a user mayselect any name in the groups lozenge to focus a Yellow Pages or otherlistings directory search on that favorites associated with the group.

The custom search window 5230 default position is a search for thespecial interest items to the user or “me” in the peoples lozenge (e.g.,“Bob Henderson”). The window 5230 includes two sections 5235 and 5237.The first section 5235 shows custom yellow pages categories. The secondsection 5237 shows information for specific businesses. The sections5235 and 5237 display pre-fetched search items determined by the systembased on data in their personal profile, to-do list, shopping list, andcalendar.

The Popular search window 5250 shows items based on the user's localarea (e.g., “Houston”). The window 5250 includes two sections 5255 and5257. The first section 5255 shows custom yellow pages categories basedon what is popular in that area. The second section 5257 provideschoices for a selected category that are presented in order of distanceto the user's home.

Certain items from the search window sections 5237 and 5257 may bedragged to the activities, such as items that may be associated with anactivity. The associations are stored in a database. When activities arehighlighted, the windows 5237 and 5257 focus to find businessesassociated with that activity. Any search item may be dragged to theTo-Do list to cause an item to be created. When highlighted To-Do itemsfocus to find businesses associated with that to-do list item. Searchitems may not be dragged to the shopping list; however, shopping items,when highlighted, cause the windows to focus to find businessesassociated with that shopping item. Search items may be dragged to theSend lozenge to be shared or chatted about. Any search item can bedragged to the Locations lozenge, causing an item to be created. Whenhighlighted, location items focus the search window to find businessesassociated with that location. The maps lozenge always shows a map ofany search item, or location that may be highlighted, in addition todirections and a customer finder feature.

The search bar 5210 features a yellow pages search in addition to thesystem and Internet search to focus searches, as described above.

The recycle bin is replaced with block input 5280, which removes asearch entry from ever appearing again in the search boxes. As a result,a user may eliminate businesses from re-appearing if they do not like orhave no interest in those businesses.

FIG. 53 illustrates one exemplary process 5300 for shopping with thefamily organizer. In one example, the family organizer is placed in thekitchen on or in proximity to an appliance where food is stored and/ordisposed of. When an item is used up or more of an item is desired, forexample, milk, the user activates the barcode reader or via the buttonor the user input on the shopping lozenge of the family organizerinterface 5301. The processing device instructs the barcode reader toscan a barcode on the item (e.g., the UPC code on the item) 5310. Thebarcode reader scans the bar code and provides the results to theprocessing device 5320. The item associated with the bar code isdetermined by looking up the bar code in memory, by sending bar codedata to the service provider system for identification, or by accessingan online database 5330.

Once the processing device system service provider identifies thescanned item, for example, milk, the scanned item is automatically addedto the family shopping list the group family is selected on the groupslozenge or the shopping list of a specific family member if their nameis selected on the people lozenge 5340. Once activated, the barcodereader may remain active for a predetermined period of time. Theprocessing device determines if the predetermined period of time haselapsed 5350. If not, the processing device determines if there areadditional barcodes to scan 5350. If there are the barcode reader andprocessing device may continue to scan items and add them to theshopping list until there are not items left and/or the timeout occurs.If the bar code data is provided to the system for identification, itmay be sent as each barcode is read or as a batch if there are more thana single or a large number of items.

Once the items have been added to the shopping list, the system monitorsthe shopping list to identify any relevant Glads for the items on theshopping list 5360. In addition, when items are scanned and added to thelist, the system automatically knows what the item is as the item wasidentified by its UPC. As a result, the system does not need tointerpret these items on the list using the NLI and may directlyidentify potential Glads to serve to the graphics bar 726 of the familyorganizer. Any identified Glads or incentives are presented to the user5370. Identified Glads presented to the graphics bar may be dragged tothe shopping list or the calendar for saving.

As described herein, the shopping list may be printed and/or provided tothe mobile device interface (e.g., a mobile phone or smart phone).Alternatively, if the user orders items from using an online shoppingservice, the system may be automatically setup to store specific scanneditem by UPC numbers, name of item, and/or types of items (e.g.,groceries and drugstore items) in a special shopping list associatedwith a specific online store or shopping service. When these items arescanned they are automatically stored on the store shopping list. Thesystem may then be activated via the shopping lozenge to periodicallylog on to the online shopping site, provide the required userinformation including passwords and payment information (e.g.,credit/debit card information), orders the items on the list, andschedule delivery. The personal profile allows a user to specifyspecific items and types of items the system service provider 110 mayautomatically buy for the user. The user may specify what price ranges(e.g., a maximum, a minimum or both) that are okay for the systemservice provider to user in determining whether to make a purchase. Theuser profile buy information may include payment information, such ascredit card, debit card, paypal, online banking information, a singlepurchase spending limit, a monthly purchase spending limit, and a cardbalance limit. The user also may delivery preferences, such as time ofday or day of week. This automated buy feature may beactivated/deactivated at any time by the user and a manual override maybe provided. Any item with a barcode and/or a UPC information may beadded to the shopping list and/or ordered this way.

Of course, the add/search field of the shopping lozenge may be used by auser to manually entered a UPC number or product code (e.g., by typing,dragging, or cut and pasting) to add the item to the shopping list. Inaddition, the organizer may display pictures of items that are notnormally associated with or have bar code items, for example, produce,such as vegetables, fruit, and bulk items. The user may select theseitems using a user input device to add these items to the shopping list.

In addition, food associated items may be scanned to automatically lookup recipes that user the food items or food items from the shopping listmay selected to look up recipes. The recipes may be presented in apop-window. The recipes may include food items with hyperlinks or otherindicia allowing selection (e.g., check boxes, buttons, etc.) for eachfood item. The user may add individual food items to the shopping listby selecting the food item using a user input device. In addition a userselection is provided to select and add all food items in the recipe tothe shopping list in amounts at least sufficient to make the recipe.Additionally, the user may print out the recipe.

The shopping listibarcode feature is a powerful device for family users.Using this feature a user no longer has to worry about forgetting to putitems on the shopping list. Furthermore, because any item that isscanned is automatically added to the shopping list in real time, evenif an item is used up after someone has left to go shopping, the scanneditem may be displayed on a user's mobile device shopping list of themobile interface almost instantly and therefore the item is purchased.For example, a working parent plans to go shopping after work, and theirkids at home after school use up all the milk. When the kids scan theitem as the throw out the carton, the shopping list is instantly updatedand Dad is none the wiser when he checks his shopping list at the store,thinking milk was on there all the time.

A number of exemplary implementations have been described. Nevertheless,it will be understood that various modifications may be made. Forexample, suitable results may be achieved if the steps of describedtechniques are performed in a different order and/or if components in adescribed components, architecture, or devices are combined in adifferent manner and/or replaced or supplemented by other components.Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the followingclaims.

1. A method of providing a group graphical user interface generated by aservice provider system for display by a user client device, the methodcomprising: storing contact information associated with a groupincluding two or more members; storing calendar information associatedwith the group members; storing message information associated with thegroup members; generating a dynamic webpage providing contentautomatically customized for the group by dividing the interface into anumber of distinct thematically organized areas based on the contactinformation, the calendar information, and the message information, eacharea providing content and inputs based on the distinct theme; receivinga user input in response to a group member interaction with theinterface; and dynamically adjusting the content provided by the webpagein response to the user input.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein dividingthe interface into a number of distinct thematically organized areasincludes dividing content into strips, each strip displaying the contentand inputs associated with the theme.
 3. The method of claim 2 whereindividing content into strips includes providing a WHO strip to presentuser contacts for all group members and their contacts.
 4. The method ofclaim 3 wherein providing a WHO strip includes providing contactinformation for people and groups.
 5. The method of claim 2 whereindividing content into strips includes providing a WHAT strip to presentgroup member message content.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein providinga WHAT strip includes providing indicators of received messages.
 7. Themethod of claim 2 wherein dividing content into strips includesproviding a WHEN strip to present a group calendar content.
 8. Themethod of claim 7 wherein providing a WHEN strip includes providinggroup calendar and event information.
 9. The method of claim 2 whereindividing content into strips includes providing a WHERE strip to presentlocation content.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein providing a WHEREstrip includes providing location information for contacts and events.11. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving the user input includesreceiving an input generated by a user input device in one of thestrips, and dynamically adjusting the content provided by the webpage inresponse to the user input includes focusing content provided by eachstrip in response to the received user input.
 12. The method of claim 2wherein receiving a user input includes receiving an indication ofcontent from one strip has be dragged to another strip, and dynamicallyadjusting the content provided by the webpage in response to the userinput includes providing a system provider function.
 13. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: receiving data generated by a barcode readercorresponding to a scanned item in response to the input; automaticallyadding the received data to a shopping list associated with the group;and providing the shopping list for display on the dynamic generatedwebpage including a representation of the scanned item.
 14. The methodof claim 13 further comprising storing advertisements in a data base,determining an advertisement that is relevant to the item in theshopping list, displaying the advertisement on the dynamic generatedwebpage.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein determining an advertisementis relevant includes filtering the advertisement based on the calendarinformation.
 16. The method of claim 14 further comprising storing userprofile information for the group members, and determining anadvertisement is relevant includes filtering the advertisement based onfamily member user profile information.
 17. The method of claim 5further comprising: receiving data generated by a barcode readercorresponding to a scanned item in response to the input; automaticallyadding the received data to a shopping list associated with the group;and providing the shopping list for presentation by the WHAT strip onthe dynamic generated webpage including a representation of the scanneditem.
 18. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving a userinput indicating the advertisement has been selected, and storing theadvertisement in association with the item on the shopping list.
 19. Themethod of claim 18 further comprising: automatically contacting anonline storefront; presenting the advertisement; and purchasing the itemfor a price, wherein the advertisement is one of a coupon, a discount,an offer, or an incentive affecting the price or quantity of the itempurchased.
 20. The method of claim 13 further comprising automaticallycontacting an online storefront and purchasing the item for delivery toa family member.
 21. The method of claim 13 further comprisingtransmitting the shopping list to a mobile processing device or mobilephone.
 22. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a web page includesproviding a one touch food delivery area to present depictions ofprevious food orders of group members wherein selection of the depictioncauses an automated online food ordering and delivery process.
 23. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the group is a family.